Fired OpenAI Engineer Ordered Detained Pending Trial Over Alleged Conference Room Recording

A US court on Monday ordered former OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan to remain detained pending trial over allegations that he secretly recorded sensitive company meetings. Prosecutors cited alleged Saudi connections and government-funded travel as evidence of flight risk. The FBI said he accessed an iPhone folder called “Saudi Gov Docs,” but its contents were not disclosed, and prosecutors acknowledged he may have acted for personal gain rather than a foreign government.

The FBI arrested OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan for allegedly hiding a recording device wrapped in toilet paper behind a television in a restricted executive conference room. According to the FBI, the device was likely planted on September 28, and OpenAI discovered it on September 30 with encrypted contents. A camera installed on October 5 allegedly captured Alfozan attempting to retrieve it that day.

OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan was arrested on October 9 for allegedly hiding an audio recording device in a conference room used by company leadership, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The indictment alleges that his wife's chatbot account received prompts about continuous recording, Wi-Fi, live listening, and SD card encryption, including identifiers matching the recovered device; the chatbot was not identified as ChatGPT. OpenAI fired him and said there were no indications of inappropriate access to or exfiltration of model weights, source code, or customer data.

Baoyu reports that OpenAI employee Abdulrahman Alfozan was arrested on October 9 for allegedly planting a recording device in an executive meeting room at its San Francisco headquarters. In the quoted statement, OpenAI says it used its models to understand the device and identify the employee, then referred the matter to the FBI and terminated him. OpenAI says the investigation is ongoing and it currently has no indications of inappropriate access to or exfiltration of model weights, source code, or customer data.

OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, was arrested and charged with using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications, according to The San Francisco Standard. The device was reportedly plugged into a TV’s USB port in an executive conference room. OpenAI says it used its models to identify the employee, fired him, and referred the matter to the FBI; it reports no indications that he improperly accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code, or customer data.