Saudi National Arrested For Installing Surreptitious Audio Recording Device At OpenAI In San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO – An employee of OpenAI, a super intelligence (SI), also known as artificial intelligence, company headquartered in San Francisco, has been arrested for and charged with using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications.  Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a national of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was arrested on Friday, October 9, 2026, and made his initial appearance in federal court today. Alfozan is currently in federal custody.  He is next scheduled to appear in federal court on October 19, 2026, for a detention hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse.

According to the complaint unsealed today, Alfozan had been employed as an engineer by OpenAI, identified as “Company 1” in the complaint, since July 2025.  On or about September 30, 2026, OpenAI personnel discovered a surreptitious audio recording device (“Recording Device 1”) inserted into a USB port on the back of a television in an executive conference room inside one of OpenAI’s buildings in San Francisco. OpenAI determined that the device, which had been concealed in toilet paper, was installed on or about September 28, 2026, and that its contents were encrypted.

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage inside OpenAI’s office showed that Alfozan appeared near the executive conference room on multiple dates prior to the device’s discovery, although he had no authority to access, or to participate in meetings occurring in, the executive conference room. According to the complaint, meetings in the executive conference room where Recording Device 1 was discovered frequently involved discussions of highly confidential technical, commercial, and strategic information, including proprietary research, product plans, and business-development opportunities, as well as nonpublic information about OpenAI’s technical progress and strategic decisions, capabilities, priorities, government engagements, and commercial relationships.

According to the complaint, prior to September 28, 2026, Alfozan used a productivity tool to make multiple inquiries about OpenAI’s building addresses, meeting rooms, meeting-room capacities and calendars, and locations of “leadership and exec” and external partner meetings. Moreover, a chatbot account associated with Alfozan’s spouse (which shared multiple identifiers and attributes with Alfozan’s own chatbot account) submitted prompts between September 24, 2026, and September 30, 2026, related to building, customizing, installing, audio recording, testing, obfuscating, and remote accessing a device, including inquiries about “build[ing] a continuous audio recorder,” “customiz[ing] Wi-Fi . . . connectivity,” “improv[ing] audio and live listening,” and “encrypt[ing] the SD card,” among other things.  The same chatbot account also submitted prompts specifically related to Recording Device 1, including its custom header and unique MAC address, between September 27, 2026, and September 28, 2026.

The complaint further alleges that on October 5, 2026, Alfozan entered the executive conference room and appeared to look behind the television into which Recording Device 1 had been inserted, as captured below:

Finally, the complaint alleges that, also on or about October 5, 2026, Alfozan left a bag unattended in a different room in an OpenAI building. OpenAI security personnel found and opened Alfozan’s bag, inside which they discovered—among other things, including Alfozan’s wallet and ID—another recording device similar to Recording Device 1.

“The Bay Area and Silicon Valley lead the world in developing tomorrow’s technology, and our Office will continue to stand at the forefront of protecting that American innovation,” said U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian.  “For us it is a matter of national security. This arrest highlights our relentless efforts in partnership with the FBI to identify and prosecute those who seek to steal our technology, as alleged in the complaint.”

“According to the complaint unsealed today, Abdulrahman Alfozan allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer’s executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications about the company’s super intelligence technology,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Protecting American SI innovation is essential to safeguarding our nation’s economic strength and national security, and the FBI views that mission as one of our highest counterintelligence priorities. Thank you to Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton and our law enforcement partners for their support – and we will continue working closely with our partners across the U.S. government and private sector to keep American businesses and citizens safe and to ensure our country maintains its competitive edge.”

“Any attempt to illicitly obtain protected information from U.S. super intelligence and technology companies threatens both American innovation and the national security interests those advancements support,” said Special Agent in Charge Scott Schelble of the FBI San Francisco Field Office. “The FBI remains steadfast in its commitment to protecting sensitive research and proprietary technology. We will continue working closely with our government and private sector partners to identify threats, safeguard critical advancements, and ensure the Bay Area’s innovation ecosystem remains secure.”

A complaint merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  If convicted, Alfozan faces a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, followed by 3 years of supervised release, for a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2511(1)(b).  Any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

This case is being prosecuted by the National Security, Cyber & Special Prosecutions Section of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI.