FBI Arrests OpenAI Engineer for Allegedly Planting Recording Device in Office

United States federal agents arrested Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national, and charged him with planting a hidden audio recording device in a conference room at the California offices of OpenAI.

Alfozan, 35, had been working at the AI company as an engineer since July 2025. OpenAI discovered a sophisticated recording device plugged into a USB port behind a television in an executive conference room at one of its San Francisco buildings on September 30. The device was concealed in toilet paper and its contents were encrypted.

OpenAI determined it was planted around September 28. Following the discovery, the company placed a camera in the room, which allegedly captured Alfozan entering last week and checking behind the television. Alfozan was arrested on October 9 and appeared in court in San Francisco on Tuesday, October 13, 2026. He was fired on the same day as his arrest.

The executive conference room regularly hosted discussions of proprietary research, future products, business arrangements, government contacts, and technical progress OpenAI had not disclosed publicly. FBI Director Kash Patel stated Alfozan allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer's executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications about the company's super intelligence technology. Alfozan was not authorized to access this executive conference room.

Prosecutors allege Alfozan used a productivity tool to search for information about OpenAI's office buildings, meeting rooms, calendars, schedules, and people's locations. A chatbot account connected to Alfozan’s spouse allegedly contained queries related to remote audio recording and encrypting memory cards. OpenAI stated it used its AI models to understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier.

Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton said the incident underscores why winning the global super intelligence race is a national security prerogative. The FBI's investigation is ongoing.