FBI Nabs Saudi National Accused Of Hiding Bug In Toilet Paper To Spy On AI Giant’s Inner Sanctum

An engineer at OpenAI has been charged after allegedly hiding a covert listening device in the company's San Francisco executive conference room. The Justice Department announced the case Tuesday. Prosecutors say Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35 and a Saudi Arabian citizen, was taken into custody by the FBI last Friday. The matter touches on the security of leading American artificial intelligence work, which the administration now calls super intelligence, according to Daily Caller.

According to the Justice Department, Alfozan wrapped the recorder in tissue and connected it to a USB port behind a television around Sept. 28. Surveillance video reportedly placed him near the room several times even though he lacked clearance to enter. A chatbot account connected to his spouse had also asked, over roughly a week in late September, about building a continuous audio recorder.

OpenAI says its security staff found the encrypted device on Sept. 30 and used its own models to trace it to him. The company says it sees no sign he obtained model weights, source code or customer data. After finding signs he meant to place more devices, it restricted his access in stages while working with the FBI, then fired him.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Daily Caller’s reporting. Read the full story at Daily Caller →