OpenAI says it used its own AI models to work out what a hidden recording device was and where it came from, after the device was found in an executive conference room at its San Francisco headquarters. According to the U.S. Justice Department, engineer Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national, was arrested on October 9 and charged with using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications. The allegations have not been proven in court.
OpenAI says its models analyzed the device’s storage
OpenAI’s technical surveillance team found the device on September 30 during a sweep of the room. The device was plugged into a USB port behind a television and wrapped in toilet paper, and investigators believe it was installed around September 28. Its contents were encrypted.
OpenAI said its models were used on forensic images of the device’s storage to assess changes in the underlying data. The company then referred the matter to the FBI. It has described the recorder as sophisticated and built to avoid detection. That is a narrower claim than saying AI named the suspect. The complaint relies mainly on other evidence, set out below.
Court documents identify the hardware as a Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense, a thumb-sized development board with a microphone and microSD storage. The San Francisco Standard reported that it sells on Amazon for $23.99.
The complaint points to CCTV, internal searches and chatbot prompts
Prosecutors say Alfozan had no authority to enter the room or attend meetings there, yet office CCTV shows him near it on multiple dates. The room had no camera when the device was installed, the complaint says, which does not detail what Alfozan might have wanted to do with any captured communications. abcnews
Before September 28, the complaint says, he used an internal productivity tool to ask about building addresses, meeting rooms, room capacities, calendars and the locations of leadership and partner meetings. A chatbot account linked to his spouse, which shared identifiers with his own, allegedly submitted prompts between September 24 and 30 about building and hiding a continuous audio recorder, encrypting an SD card and the specific device’s MAC address.
A second device, and a missing one
On October 5, prosecutors say, Alfozan went back into the conference room and appeared to look behind the television. The same day, a bag was left unattended in another room. Security staff opened it and found his wallet, ID and a second, similar recorder. An FBI affidavit says that when he retrieved the bag on October 6, the device was gone. He reported other items stolen but did not mention it.
OpenAI said it gradually restricted his access from September 30, then placed him on leave and secured his company equipment. It timed his firing with the FBI, and he was terminated on October 9, the day of his arrest. The company says it has no sign that model weights, source code or customer data were accessed. His lawyer has said the allegations are out of character, according to the San Francisco Standard.
Up to five years in prison; detention hearing on October 19
If convicted, Alfozan faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. He made his first court appearance on October 13 and remains in custody. A detention hearing before Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse is set for October 19. FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI treats protecting AI innovation as one of its highest counterintelligence priorities.
