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OpenAI engineer arrested over hidden recording device had booked one-way ticket to Saudi
Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi Arabian national, was arrested on October 9, more than a week after OpenAI employees discovered an audio recording device.
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An OpenAI employee arrested on charges of allegedly planting a hidden recording device in one of the ChatGPT maker’s San Francisco offices had reportedly booked a one-way ticket to Saudi Arabia for October 12.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi Arabian national, was arrested on October 9, more than a week after OpenAI employees discovered an audio recording device hidden behind a television in an executive conference room, the US Justice Department said on Tuesday, according to a Bloomberg report. Alfozan, who is accused of placing the device, remains in federal custody and appeared in court in San Francisco on Tuesday.
According to a court filing, cited in the report, Alfozan, his wife and another family member had booked one-way tickets from San Francisco to Saudi Arabia via Istanbul. Government attorneys cited the travel arrangements in a motion seeking to seal the criminal complaint, arrest warrant and other documents related to the case.
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“The defendant has the means — and will have an incentive — to flee the United States sooner if he learns about this case before he is arrested,” the government attorneys wrote in the October 8 motion, the report added.
The complaint against Alfozan was subsequently unsealed on Tuesday.
Alfozan joined OpenAI in July 2025 and worked on its product team. The company said he was fired on the same day he was arrested.
The case comes amid heightened concerns about security at leading technology companies, as countries compete to develop increasingly powerful artificial intelligence systems.
“At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data,” OpenAI said in a post on social media platform X on Tuesday.
Also Read | OpenAI says 'sophisticated recording device' planted in its office, Saudi engineer held
Recording device found behind television
OpenAI said its security team discovered the device on September 30 during a sweep of a company conference room. According to details and images released by the Justice Department, the device was plugged into a USB port at the back of a television and covered with toilet paper to conceal it.
An image released by the department showed a small black device bearing the words “Seeed studio”. Investigators said OpenAI determined that it had been placed in the room around September 28. Another image released by the department showed a person identified as Alfozan peering behind the television.
According to the criminal complaint, which refers to an unnamed AI company with offices in San Francisco, Alfozan did not have authorisation to access the conference room. The room typically hosted meetings involving “highly confidential technical, commercial, and strategic information”.
The company also uncovered evidence suggesting that Alfozan planned to use additional recording devices to secretly record meetings in other parts of the office, according to the complaint.
In early October, OpenAI security employees found another recording device similar to the first in a bag Alfozan had left inside one of the company’s corporate buildings.
OpenAI said it used its AI models to analyse the device and identify the person who had placed it in the office.
Also Read | Who is Abdulrahman Alfozan, OpenAI employee caught planting a recording device in office?
Defence lawyer says allegations are out of character
William Pernik, Alfozan’s defence lawyer, said the defence team would challenge the allegations in court.
“We look forward to presenting all appropriate defenses in court,” Pernik said.
In a statement, Pernik said Alfozan had come to the US when he was young and had spent years studying and working in the technology industry.
“Where someone was born is not evidence of anything,” he said, adding that Alfozan had not been charged with stealing trade secrets or working as a foreign agent.
“These allegations appear wholly out of character for him,” Pernik said. “We will relentlessly investigate all evidence produced by the government in this case to understand what actually happened, who was responsible, and any possible reasons why.”
Alfozan is scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse in federal court in the Northern District of California in San Francisco on October 19.
