San Francisco · OpenAI · Federal Reserve (FED) · Wired
An OpenAI Employee Allegedly Tapped a Chatbot to Help Plant a Recording Device at the Office
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An engineer at OpenAI allegedly concealed an audio recording device in a piece of toilet paper and attached it behind a monitor inside an executive conference room at one of the company’s San Francisco offices, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday.
Key facts
- Abdulrahman Alfozan, who federal prosecutors describe as a 35-year-old Saudi Arabian national and US permanent resident, allegedly spent several weeks querying an unspecified “productivity agent
- He joined OpenAI in July 2025 and was fired last Friday to coincide with his arrest
- OpenAI discovered the bug—which was allegedly “concealed in toilet paper” and “inserted into a USB port on the back of a television” in the conference room—on September 30
- The LinkedIn profile lists Alfozan as a part-time “venture partner” at RAED Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Saudi Arabia
Summary
Abdulrahman Alfozan, who federal prosecutors describe as a 35-year-old Saudi Arabian national and US permanent resident, allegedly spent several weeks querying an unspecified “productivity agent” and an “AI chatbot” to plan his alleged surveillance operation. He also appears to have used a chatbot account associated with his spouse to ask various technical questions about setting up a covert audio recording device, according to prosecutors and the court filing. OpenAI’s security team also allegedly found an additional recording device that had not been installed in Alfozan’s bag at the office. Alfozan couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.