This is the $24 gizmo the FBI says was used to bug OpenAI's offices
The FBI has charged a former OpenAI employee with using a $24 microcontroller to secretly record conversations in an executive office. The suspect allegedly used a chatbot to learn how to optimize the device for espionage purposes.
Why it matters
This incident highlights the accessibility of low-cost hardware for corporate espionage and the potential misuse of AI tools in criminal activities.
OpenAI's offices in San Francisco. Authorities say an OpenAI employee installed a recording device in an executive office. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images The device the FBI says an employee used to bug OpenAI's office isn't exactly state-of-the-art. You can buy the model for $24 on Amazon or even less from its Chinese manufacturer. ChatGPT can help hone its surreptitious recording ability. Gone are the days of Watergate, when Richard Nixon's "plumbers" used government-provided, state-of-the-art recording devices tucked into Chapstick containers to bug the Democratic National Committee. Now, anyone with some pocket change and an Amazon account can get their hands on a far more advanced recording device. One such gizmo, a postage-stamp-sized microcontroller that authorities say a now-former employee used to bug an executive conference room at OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters, sells for $24 on Amazon. It has rave reviews.
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12 other newsrooms covered this event. We read each version separately.
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