The FBI arrested an OpenAI employee and charged him with planting a surveillance device in an executive conference room to record the company’s plans for its artificial intelligence, the company and FBI confirmed on Tuesday.
The US Department of Justice identified the employee as 35-year-old Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi Arabian citizen and legal permanent resident of the US, who joined OpenAI’s product team in July 2025. He was fired and arrested on Oct. 9 on suspicion of violating US law by using “an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications.” The charge comes with a possible five-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine.
In a statement, Jay Clayton, director of national intelligence, said that the incident underscores the importance of US success in AI development as “a national security prerogative.”
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The complaint, filed in the Northern District of California, says Alfozan allegedly placed a “thumb-sized development board with a detachable camera sensor, digital microphone and microSD storage.” It was wrapped in toilet paper and stuck into a TV port. A second recording device was found in a bag Alfozan allegedly left in a printer room along with his wallet and ID.
The conference room where he allegedly planted the bug could be reserved only by executives and their assistants — Alfozan did not have access — and was frequently used to discuss proprietary research and hold meetings with government and industry officials. OpenAI said it has evidence Alfozan planned to place additional surveillance bugs to secretly record company meetings.
The ChatGPT maker says it discovered the first bug on Sept. 30 and alerted the FBI. During the 10 days between the discovery and arrest, the company says it took steps to contain the security risk. The company says it has not seen evidence that the safety of its products or customer data has been compromised.
“We take protecting our technology, data, and people seriously, and as a matter of national importance,” OpenAI said in a statement.
AI and national security
OpenAI’s own AI was used to analyze forensic images of the device and assess changes in its data. In a bizarre detail that borders on a marketing pitch, OpenAI posted on X that its frontier AI was used to help investigators. There are no additional details on how its AI was used, but we may learn more later, as the investigation is ongoing.
This incident is one of the first public instances of an espionage case against an AI lab. In 2024, former Google engineer Linwei Ding was found guilty of stealing the company’s AI plans for Chinese rivals, though his conviction was partially overturned in August.
In the intense, cash-fueled worldwide competition to make the most advanced AI, a case of apparent industrial espionage isn’t surprising. What is noteworthy is how the government is responding: Washington is continuing its campaign to ensure that AI companies are seen as critical national infrastructure.
“Protecting American [super intelligence] innovation is critically important, and FBI views it as one of our highest counterintelligence priorities,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in an X post.
The federal government has become more involved with AI policy and with the labs creating the tech in recent months. The US’ voluntary, largely ceremonial AI Accord announced this month had many Big Tech leaders agreeing to develop AI responsibly in the wake of renewed public concern triggered in part by multiple incidents of AI agents breaking into places they shouldn’t have been able to access.
President Trump has consistently championed an “innovation first” strategy to ensure the US beats China, at the expense of AI regulation. His administration has highlighted “national security considerations” that come with AI. The Department of Defense has previously sided with AI labs, saying in a filing in a lawsuit brought by Memphis communities against Elon Musk’s xAI that the data centers powering AI are essential to military and national security activities.