A Saudi accused of planting an “advanced” recording device in an office belonging to the “Open AI” company

A Saudi man has been accused of secretly planting a recording device in an OpenAI office in California, according to federal prosecutors.

Abdul Rahman Al-Fawzan, who worked as an engineer at an artificial intelligence company, was accused of using, or attempting to use, an electronic, mechanical, or any other device to intercept verbal communications.

OpenAI said it discovered a "sophisticated recording device" hidden in its San Francisco office and referred the matter to the FBI.

The company added that it used its artificial intelligence models to track that the device was planted by an employee.

Prosecutors say the device, which was wrapped in toilet paper, was found plugged into a USB port on the back of a television inside a conference room designated for senior executives.

OpenAI, the group that developed the ChatGPT program, said that it had no indications that the source code, model weights, or customer data were accessed or seized during the incident, and added that the employee was fired from his job.

According to the complaint, Al-Fawzan “allegedly concealed a secret recording device inside the conference room of his employer’s senior executives to secretly capture sensitive communications,” according to a statement by FBI Director Kash Patel.

Patel said the alleged goal was to obtain information about the company's artificial intelligence product.

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Prosecutors say Al-Fawzan had been working as an engineer at OpenAI since July 2025.

On September 30, company employees discovered the device, two days after the date on which the prosecution says it was planted. Prosecutors added that the device was encrypted.

OpenAI said it was able to use its artificial intelligence models “to understand the device and its source, and to determine that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier.”

According to the FBI, the suspect used a “productivity tool” and a “chatbot” to research sensitive locations within the company and how to secretly place audio equipment.

Prosecutors allege that among the commands he is believed to have searched via the chatbot were “to build, customize, install, test, hide, and remotely access an audio recording device.”

He is also accused of using the chatbot to inquire about how to “build a continuous audio recording device,” “customize your Wi-Fi connection,” “improve audio and live listening,” and “encrypt your SD card.”

On October 5, prosecutors allege, he returned to check the device in the office. Prosecutors used surveillance footage to link him to the location.