A Saudi national has been charged with secretly planting a recording device in OpenAI’s office in California, federal prosecutors announced.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, who worked at the AI firm as an engineer, was charged federally with using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications.
OpenAI said it had discovered a “sophisticated recording device” hidden in their San Francisco office and alerted the FBI. The company said it used its AI models to track that it had been planted by an employee.
Prosecutors say the device, wrapped in toilet paper, was found inserted in a USB port on the back of a TV in an executive conference room.
OpenAI said that it has no indication that source code, model weights or customer data were inappropriately accessed or taken in the incident. It said the employee has been fired.
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