Saudi AI Engineer Charged with Covert Recording Scheme
A Saudi national, Abdulrahman Alfozan, worked as an engineer at OpenAI in San Francisco before federal prosecutors charged him with placing a hidden recording device in the company’s executive conference room.
According to the complaint, he wrapped the set‑up in toilet paper and inserted it into a USB port behind a TV. OpenAI’s AI models later flagged the device and pinpointed Alfozan as the culprit.
OpenAI said it found no evidence that source code, model weights or customer data were compromised. The employee has been fired and will appear in court on Tuesday.
If convicted, Alfozan faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
