US indicts Saudi employee of OpenAI for allegedly bugging its offices

A Saudi national working for OpenAI has been arrested for planting a recording device in one of the company’s offices, after the ChatGPT maker reported them to the FBI, raising concerns of espionage at the leading US AI lab.

The device, inserted into the back of a television in an executive conference room and concealed in toilet paper, was discovered on September 30 during a sweep of a conference room by a specialised security team.

OpenAI said it had evidence that the employee intended to deploy other recording devices in sensitive locations around its offices to surreptitiously record meetings.

Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national who joined the company’s product team in July last year, was terminated on October 9 and arrested by the FBI the same day. He appeared in federal court on Tuesday, according to the justice department. It was not immediately clear whether Alfozan had hired an attorney.

“We take protecting our technology, data, and people seriously, and as a matter of national importance,” OpenAI said in a statement on Tuesday. “Our security program is designed to protect against a wide range of threat actors, from insider risks to cybercriminals to nation states.”