October 19, 2026
FBI Arrests OpenAI Engineer Who Hid a Spy Bug in the Executive Conference Room — and OpenAI’s Own AI Caught Him
The FBI has arrested an OpenAI engineer accused of planting a hidden recording device inside an executive conference room at the company’s San Francisco office. Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, who joined OpenAI in July 2025, was arrested on October 9 and fired the same day; the charges were made public on October 13.
The thumb-sized device was plugged into a USB port behind a wall-mounted TV and wrapped in toilet paper to stay out of sight. It carried a microphone, could connect to a camera, and stored encrypted data. OpenAI says it turned its own AI models on the device to analyze it and trace it back to Alfozan — and that he allegedly planned to plant more bugs in sensitive areas of the building. A second device was later found in an unattended bag elsewhere in the office.
The room regularly hosted discussions of proprietary AI research, future products, and corporate strategy, and the FBI director said the scheme aimed to capture secrets about the company’s superintelligence technology. Alfozan faces up to five years in prison if convicted; the allegations have not yet been proven in court. His detention hearing was scheduled for today, October 19.