Artificial Intelligence
Court detains ex-OpenAI engineer in recording-device case
A U.S. court ordered Abdulrahman Alfozan held after prosecutors said he planted a recording device at OpenAI, while a Sunday filing described his contacts with a member of Saudi Arabia's royal family.
- On Monday, a U.S. court granted the government's request to detain Abdulrahman Alfozan.
- Prosecutors said in a Sunday filing that Alfozan had been in frequent WhatsApp contact with a member of the Saudi Royal Family through 2025 and 2026, including on 5 October 2026.
- The Justice Department said last week that he had been arrested over an allegation that he planted a recording device in an OpenAI conference room in San Francisco, and the filing said he used his wife's ChatGPT account to look up how to make an audio recorder.
- Prosecutors said a search of his home and devices found electronics similar to those used in the hidden recorders, photographs of another concealed device, a deleted note with links to recording devices from Seeed Studio, and browsing history for a folder called "Saudi Gov Docs".
- He was charged with using or trying to use a device to intercept oral communications, and prosecutors said he faced up to five years in prison if convicted.
A U.S. court ordered Abdulrahman Alfozan detained on Monday after prosecutors accused him of hiding a recording device in an OpenAI conference room in San Francisco. The Justice Department said last week that he had been arrested over that allegation.
In a Sunday filing, prosecutors said Alfozan was in regular WhatsApp contact with a member of the Saudi Royal Family during 2025 and 2026. They said the contact discussed a Saudi artificial intelligence initiative and wanted him to join it.
The filing said Alfozan used his wife's ChatGPT account to search for ways to build a continuous audio recorder. Prosecutors also said he used an OpenAI productivity agent to identify meeting rooms used by senior staff and external partners.
They said a search of his home and devices found parts similar to those used in the hidden recorders, photographs of another concealed device, and a deleted note linking to equipment from Seeed Studio. The filing also said his browsing history included a folder called "Saudi Gov Docs", and that he had planned to travel to Riyadh with his wife and son before his arrest.
He was charged with using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications and faced a maximum of five years in prison if convicted. Prosecutors said he was a flight risk because of his resources and what they described as support from a foreign government, and said his conduct raised national-security concerns.
Named in this story
People
- Abdulrahman Alfozan
- the former OpenAI engineer accused of planting the recording device
Companies
- OpenAI
- the company where prosecutors said the device was hidden
- Seeed Studio
- the maker of recording devices that prosecutors said appeared in his note and in OpenAI's offices
Organisations
- Saudi Royal Family
- the group whose member prosecutors said had contacted him about joining a Saudi AI initiative
Governments and agencies
- U.S. Department of Justice
- the department that said he had been arrested and charged
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- the agency whose agents spoke with his wife before she left the country
- Saudi Ministry of Communication and Information Technology
- the Saudi body whose engagements prosecutors said he queried
Products and systems
- the messaging app prosecutors said he used for frequent contact with the royal family member
- ChatGPT
- the account prosecutors said he used to research how to make an audio recorder
- OpenAI productivity agent
- the system prosecutors said he used to find meeting rooms and related engagements
Places
- San Francisco
- the city where OpenAI's office and conference room were said to be
- Riyadh
- the city he was said to have planned to travel to
- Saudi Arabia
- the country tied to the alleged contacts and travel plans
How the source tells it
The piece was mostly straight court reporting, but it adopted an alarmed register when it repeated prosecutors' claims about foreign-government links and national-security risk.
- alarm the filing was framed around foreign-government contacts and a national-security concern