Saudi employee charged with planting recording device at OpenAI office
A Saudi engineer at OpenAI has been charged with planting a covert recording device in an executive conference room. The company discovered the device using its own AI models and subsequently fired the employee.
Why it matters
This incident highlights the growing security risks associated with corporate espionage in the high-stakes AI industry.
Share Save Add as preferred on Google Max Matza Reuters / DOJ Prosecutors released CCTV images of the suspect allegedly checking on the secret recorder A Saudi national has been charged with secretly planting a recording device in one of OpenAI's offices in California, federal prosecutors announced.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, who worked at the AI firm as an engineer, was charged federally with using or endeavouring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications.
OpenAI said it had discovered a "sophisticated recording device" hidden in their San Francisco office and alerted the FBI. The company said it used its AI models to track that it had been planted by an employee.
Prosecutors say the device, wrapped in toilet paper, was found inserted in a USB port on the back of a TV in an executive conference room.
Also covering this story
10 other newsrooms covered this event. We read each version separately.
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