Who is Abdulrahman Alfozan? OpenAI engineer arrested over hidden recording device

An OpenAI employee named Abdulrahman Alfozan has been at the center of OpenAI controversy where he was accused of and arrested for planting a thumb-sized recording device in one of the company’s executive offices.

As per the details revealed by the Department of Justice, the 35-year-old Saudi national hid a recording device in an executive conference room at the company’s San Francisco building around September 28. As per DOJ, the purpose of planting the device to gather intel on super intelligence and advanced AI systems.

In a statement issued by the OpenAI, the company used its own AI models to trace it back to him after discovery on September 30, then alerted the FBI; CCTV showed him near the unauthorized room multiple times, including retrieving a second device.

An FBI complaint reveals that a thumb-sized audio and camera device was found hidden in toilet paper. While its encrypted contents could not be accessed, investigators later recovered a second, nearly identical device from Alfozan's personal bag.

"Abdulrahman Alfozan allegedly concealed a covert recording device inside his employer's executive conference room to secretly capture sensitive communications about the company’s super intelligence technology," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.

Who is Abdulrahman Alfozan?

Abdulrahman Alfozan, the Saudi national, had been hired by OpenAI in July 2025 and had been working as Engineering Lead at OpenAI.

His LinkedIn profile details an extensive background in tech, starting with internships at major companies like Akamai Technologies, SAP, and Microsoft between 2012 and 2014.

He earned his bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering from MIT in 2016, followed by a master's in data science from UC Berkeley in 2025.

He gained professional experience by serving as a Senior Systems Engineer at Meta between 2017 and 2022. However, no verification of his position at Meta has come from Facebook parent company. After leaving Meta in 2022, Abdulrahman Alfozan joined Nash as a founding engineer.

He also was named a Venture Partner at Raed Ventures in February 2025, a nascent venture capital firm whose headquarter is in Riyadh Saudi Arabia where he worked with other professionals to boost tech startups, entrepreneurship, and scale technology companies.

In 2025, he joined OpenAI and in 2026 he was accused of planting the device and later arrested and the company terminated him immediately.