Saudi employee charged with planting recording device at OpenAI office

A Saudi national employed at OpenAI in California, Abdulrahman Alfozan, has been charged with secretly installing a sophisticated recording device in an OpenAI office in San Francisco. The device, hidden in toilet paper and inserted into a USB port, was intended to capture sensitive communications, including information about the company's AI products. OpenAI discovered the device two days after its installation using their AI models and alerted the FBI. The employee, who had been working as an engineer since July 2025, was fired, and CCTV footage linked him to the scene during an inspection on October 5.