A Saudi Arabian engineer working at artificial intelligence company OpenAI has been arrested after a listening device was found in a company meeting room, according to U.S. authorities.
In a statement on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice said the employee was Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi engineer who had worked at OpenAI since July 2025. Prosecutors allege Alfozan used the listening device to unlawfully gather sensitive information.
Alfozan made his first court appearance on Tuesday and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
"Protecting America's innovation (superintelligence) is essential to preserving economic strength and national security, and the FBI treats that mission as one of its top counterintelligence priorities," FBI Director Kash Patel said after the arrest.
According to the Justice Department's complaint, the device was hidden in toilet paper and placed around September 28, then discovered on September 30.
Prosecutors said surveillance video at OpenAI's offices captured Alfozan appearing near the executive meeting room on multiple days before the device was discovered, even though he was not authorized to enter the room or attend meetings there. Those meetings were described as highly confidential.
OpenAI security staff were also said to have found a second listening device in Alfozan's bag.
"At this time, we have no indication that this individual accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code, or customer data," OpenAI said in a social media post. "This employee has been terminated."
The company also said it used its own AI models to identify the person accused of planting the device.
"We used our models to learn about the device and its origins, which led us to identify a specific employee who had placed it several days earlier," the company said. "We referred the matter to the FBI and are grateful to the agents and prosecutors who moved quickly to make an arrest. The FBI's investigation is ongoing and we will continue to support their work."
Alfozan was charged with using or attempting to use an electronic, mechanical or other device to intercept oral communications.
The case has raised concerns about surveillance and covert efforts to gain an edge in the AI field, where companies and countries are competing fiercely.
