OpenAI engineer allegedly used a chatbot to plan planting a recording device in executive meeting room
nordicinst · x · 2026-10-14
Per a WIRED report and an unsealed criminal complaint, OpenAI engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national and US permanent resident, allegedly hid an audio recorder inside toilet paper behind a monitor in an executive conference room at a San Francisco office.
Key details:
- Prosecutors say he spent weeks querying an AI chatbot and "productivity agent" to plan the surveillance, used an internal OpenAI tool to check meetings scheduled in the room, and asked technical setup questions via a chatbot account linked to his spouse
- OpenAI security allegedly found a second, uninstalled recorder in his bag
- He faces a charge of intercepting oral communications, up to 5 years in prison; OpenAI fired him Friday to coincide with his arrest
- FBI director Kash Patel issued a statement on the case
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