// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Saudi man charged with planting 'sophisticated' recording device in OpenAI office
Prosecutors released CCTV images of the suspect allegedly checking on the secret recorder
A Saudi national has been charged with secretly planting a recording device in one of OpenAI's offices in California, federal prosecutors announced.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, who worked at the AI firm as an engineer, was charged federally with using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications.
OpenAI said it had discovered a "sophisticated recording device" hidden in their San Francisco office and alerted the FBI. The company said it used its AI models to track that it had been planted by an employee.
Prosecutors say the device, wrapped in toilet paper, was found inserted in a USB port on the back of a TV in an executive conference room.
OpenAI, the maker of the popular chatbot ChatGPT, said that it has no indication that source code, model weights or customer data were inappropriately accessed or taken in the incident. It said the employee has been fired.
According to the complaint, Alfozan "allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer's executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.
Patel said that the alleged goal was to capture information about the company's AI product.
Alfozan has been working as an engineer at OpenAI since July 2025, prosecutors say.
On 30 September, OpenAI employees discovered the device - two days after prosecutors say it had been installed. The device was encrypted, prosecutors said.