A Saudi national and OpenAI engineer is facing federal charges after prosecutors say he spent weeks researching the company's executive meeting spaces, then planted a hidden audio recorder — disguised inside a roll of toilet paper — in a San Francisco conference room used for the AI company's most sensitive discussions.

Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a legal U.S. permanent resident since 2020 who joined OpenAI as an engineer in July 2025, was arrested by the FBI on Oct. 9 and charged with using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications, according to the Department of Justice complaint. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

Prosecutors say Alfozan used an internal AI productivity tool to pull up meeting-room calendars, building layouts and executive office locations in the weeks before the alleged plot. Around Sept. 28, he allegedly installed a thumb-sized recording device — hidden inside toilet paper and plugged into a USB port behind a conference-room TV — in a room OpenAI uses for highly confidential talks.

Caught checking the bug

OpenAI's internal technical surveillance team found the device on Sept. 30, but its data was encrypted and inaccessible, so the company quietly began restricting Alfozan's access while it investigated. Security footage on Oct. 5 allegedly caught him checking on the recorder — and investigators then found a second, similar device in a bag he'd left unattended alongside his wallet and ID, according to the Associated Press account of the complaint.

OpenAI fired Alfozan on Oct. 9, the same day the FBI moved in. The company says it found no evidence he accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code or customer data, but says the evidence suggests he intended to plant more devices in other sensitive areas.

"PROTECTING AMERICAN AI INNOVATION IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT."

That's how FBI Director Kash Patel framed the arrest in a social media post flagging the case, according to Fox Business. Attorney General Todd Blanche went further, calling the alleged scheme an attempt "to steal sensitive communications from OpenAI" that "poses a serious threat to our national security," per the same report.

OpenAI, for its part, said in a statement that it "used our models to understand the device and where it had come from" before confirming the employee had been terminated. Investigators believe a chatbot account linked to Alfozan's spouse received prompts about building and hiding audio recorders, Wi-Fi connectivity and encrypted storage — details that matched the device pulled from the conference room, according to CBC News's report on the case.

The arrest lands amid broader anxiety in Washington over foreign nationals working inside frontier AI labs as countries compete for an edge in the technology. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is reportedly involved in the case. Amy Kremer, chair of the advocacy group Humans First, said the episode shows "America's AI advantage cannot be protected by promises alone," calling for mandatory background screening and insider-threat monitoring at AI labs.

Alfozan remained in federal custody after his initial court appearance Tuesday; no trial date has been set. The Saudi embassy had not responded to requests for comment as of filing. OpenAI says it is cooperating fully with the FBI's investigation.