OpenAI Employee Allegedly Used Chatbot to Plant Listening Device

An OpenAI employee allegedly used an AI chatbot to plan a covert recording device in a San Francisco office, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday. The complaint states that Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi Arabian national and US permanent resident, spent several weeks querying an unspecified 'productivity agent' and an 'AI chatbot' to plan his alleged surveillance operation.

Alfozan allegedly used an internal OpenAI tool to ask about meetings scheduled in the targeted conference room and also used a chatbot account associated with his spouse to ask technical questions about setting up a covert audio recording device, according to prosecutors and the court filing.

OpenAI’s security team also allegedly found an additional recording device in Alfozan’s bag at the office. Alfozan couldn’t be immediately reached for comment. He made an initial appearance in US District Court in San Francisco on Tuesday on one charge of 'use of an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications.'

If convicted, Alfozan faces up to five years in prison. He joined OpenAI in July 2025 and was fired last Friday to coincide with his arrest.

FBI director Kash Patel said in a statement that Alfozan aimed 'to secretly capture sensitive communications about the company’s super intelligence technology,' but neither prosecutors nor OpenAI have offered any information so far about a potential motive.

'At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data,' OpenAI said in a statement on X. 'We take protecting our technology, data, and people seriously, and as a matter of national importance.'

OpenAI discovered the bug—which was allegedly 'concealed in toilet paper' and 'inserted into a USB port on the back of a television' in the conference room—on September 30 during a countersurveillance sweep. Alfozan previously worked at a cargo logistics startup and at Meta, according to a purported LinkedIn profile for him.

Source: wired