OpenAI employee arrested for allegedly installing eavesdropping device in meeting room

An OpenAI engineer was arrested on suspicion of hiding a recording device in the company's office, and is charged with using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the device was found plugged into the USB port of a TV in an executive meeting room, wrapped in toilet paper, installed around September 28, and its contents were encrypted; the person alleged to have placed the device is 35-year-old Abdulrahman Alfozan. OpenAI said it used its own models to trace the origin of the device, confirmed that an employee had placed it several days earlier, has fired the employee and handed the incident to the FBI; the Department of Justice also said that in a bag he left in another room at the company, a wallet, identification and another recording device were found, and surveillance showed he had appeared near the executive meeting room multiple times. OpenAI said there is currently no indication that this person accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code or customer data.