FBI Arrests Former OpenAI Employee for Planting Office Listening Devices

Abdulrahman Alfozan, a former OpenAI employee and Saudi national, was arrested by the FBI and charged with illegally recording company communications after he allegedly installed concealed audio recording devices in OpenAI's offices. OpenAI fired Alfozan and reported him to the FBI after discovering the devices. Between September 24 and 30, Alfozan allegedly used OpenAI's internal workplace AI chatbot to research meeting calendars, identify where external partners met OpenAI staff, and query how to build, hide, and remotely access an audio recorder. The device he constructed used a Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense board, concealed in toilet paper, plugged into a TV's USB port around September 28, and configured to encrypt its recordings. OpenAI's technical surveillance countermeasures team discovered it during a room sweep on September 30; CCTV footage showed Alfozan near the room eight times that month. A second similar recorder was found in a bag he left in a printer room on October 5. A detention hearing is set for October 19; the charge carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. OpenAI said it has no indication the employee accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code, or customer data, but has not disclosed what the devices recorded. The White House AI task force chair cited the case as justification for the group, whose first meeting occurred shortly after the arrest.