An OpenAI Employee Allegedly Used a Chatbot to Help Plant a Recording Device at the Office

An technologist at OpenAI allegedly concealed an audio signaling instrumentality successful a portion of toilet insubstantial and attached it down a show wrong an enforcement league country astatine 1 of the company’s San Francisco offices, according to a transgression ailment unsealed connected Tuesday.

Abdulrahman Alfozan, who national prosecutors picture arsenic a 35-year-old Saudi Arabian nationalist and US imperishable resident, allegedly spent respective weeks querying an unspecified “productivity agent” and an “AI chatbot” to program his alleged surveillance operation. He utilized an interior OpenAI instrumentality to inquire astir meetings scheduled successful the targeted league room.

He besides appears to person utilized a chatbot relationship associated with his spouse to inquire assorted method questions astir mounting up a covert audio signaling device, according to prosecutors and the tribunal filing.

OpenAI’s information squad besides allegedly recovered an further signaling instrumentality that had not been installed successful Alfozan’s container astatine the office.

Alfozan couldn’t beryllium instantly reached for comment. He made an archetypal quality successful US territory tribunal successful San Francisco connected Tuesday connected 1 complaint of “use of an electronic, mechanical, oregon different instrumentality to intercept oral communications.” If convicted, Alfozan faces up to 5 years successful prison. He joined OpenAI successful July 2025 and was fired past Friday to coincide with his arrest.

Federal Bureau of Investigation manager Kash Patel said successful a statement that Alfozan aimed “to secretly seizure delicate communications astir the company’s ace quality technology,” but prosecutors nor OpenAI person offered immoderate accusation truthful acold astir a imaginable motive.

“At this time, we person nary indications of this idiosyncratic inappropriately accessing oregon exfiltrating exemplary weights, root code, oregon lawsuit data,” OpenAI said successful a connection connected X. “We instrumentality protecting our technology, data, and radical seriously, and arsenic a substance of nationalist importance.”

OpenAI discovered the bug—which was allegedly “concealed successful toilet paper” and “inserted into a USB larboard connected the backmost of a television” successful the league room—on September 30 during a countersurveillance sweep.

Alfozan antecedently worked astatine a cargo logistics startup and astatine Meta, according to a purported LinkedIn illustration for him. In a recent podcast interview, Alfozan said helium was besides portion of a radical of Saudi engineers successful Silicon Valley who offered consulting services to Saudi organizations.

The LinkedIn illustration lists Alfozan arsenic a part-time “venture partner” astatine RAED Ventures, a task superior steadfast based successful Saudi Arabia. Neither RAED Ventures nor Meta instantly responded to WIRED’s petition for comment.