OpenAI engineer charged over hidden recorder in San Francisco office
publishers 84articles 97first reported 13 Oct, 20:02 UTCdeveloping since 14 Oct · 9 editions
A former OpenAI engineer has been charged with allegedly placing a hidden audio recorder in an executive conference room at the company’s San Francisco offices, according to the US Justice Department and a federal criminal complaint.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national and US permanent resident, was arrested by the FBI on October 9 and appeared in federal court on October 13. He faces one count of using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison if he is convicted. The allegations have not been proven.
OpenAI employees discovered the thumb-sized device on September 30, plugged into a USB port behind a television and concealed with toilet paper. Investigators said it had been installed around September 28 in a room used for confidential technical, commercial and government-related meetings that Alfozan was not authorized to attend. Its stored data was encrypted and could not be recovered.
The complaint alleges that Alfozan used an internal productivity tool to research meeting rooms and schedules. It also says a chatbot account associated with his spouse was used to seek instructions for building, concealing and remotely accessing recording devices. Investigators later found a similar device in a bag containing Alfozan’s identification.
OpenAI said it found evidence of plans to place additional devices, but had no indication that model weights, source code or customer data were improperly accessed or removed. The company terminated Alfozan’s employment on the day of his arrest. The investigation remains open.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 6 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 24 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
- Publishers
- 84
- Source articles
- 97
- Given to the writer
- 8, 6 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 8
- This version written
- 24 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
- Publication gate
- passed
- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
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