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US prosecutors alleged in a filing reported by Reuters that Abdulrahman Alfozan maintained frequent WhatsApp communications with a member of the Saudi royal family throughout 2025 and 2026. The royal family member encouraged the 35-year-old Saudi national to join an artificial intelligence initiative being launched in the kingdom and told him in May 2026 that “Saudi needs you more then the US,” to which Alfozan replied “100,” according to the document. A member of the Saudi military paid for a one-way plane ticket for Alfozan’s wife and son to return to Saudi Arabia after his arrest, the prosecutors added in the filing that sought his detention as a flight risk. The New York Times reported that Alfozan had previously said he advised Saudi government agencies on technology matters.
The device was installed on or about September 28, 2026 in an executive conference room used for leadership meetings and briefings with government officials, according to the criminal complaint detailed across reports from the BBC and Reuters. OpenAI employees discovered the thumb-sized recorder, which featured a microphone and potential camera connectivity, wrapped in toilet paper and plugged into a USB port on the back of a television two days later on September 30. A hidden camera installed by the company then captured Alfozan appearing to check behind the television on October 5, prosecutors stated. The filing unsealed on October 19 noted that the alleged actions could endanger US national security given the sensitive discussions held in the room.
Alfozan joined OpenAI in July 2025 and earned an annual salary of $385,000 plus a $2.2 million equity grant, CBS News reported based on details in the court documents. Prosecutors recovered evidence indicating he may have intended to plant additional devices and had queried AI tools about meeting rooms reserved for executives and government partners. He was arrested by the FBI on October 9 and his employment contract was terminated immediately, according to statements from both the company and federal authorities.
The New York Times reported that Alfozan had appeared in an Arabic podcast the previous month describing how he and other Saudi tech professionals in Silicon Valley formed a group to advise Saudi organizations including the kingdom’s social insurance agency. He was also listed as a partner at a venture capital firm alongside a member of the Saudi royal family. These prior connections added context to the prosecutors’ claims of government support detailed in the October 19 filing.
OpenAI said it employed its own AI models to identify Alfozan as the individual responsible and to trace the origins of the customized device, a company post on X cited by Reuters indicated. The firm stated there was no evidence that any source code, model weights or customer data had been accessed or compromised during the incident. OpenAI referred the matter to the FBI, which has continued its investigation into the events at the San Francisco offices.
Prosecutors argued that the suspect’s alleged conduct posed a danger to national security and emphasized his preparations to leave the United States, as outlined in the filing reported by CNBC and the BBC. Alfozan, his wife and another relative had booked one-way tickets to Saudi Arabia for October 13, though his family members departed earlier following his arrest on October 9. The filing described the support from Saudi entities as considerable while requesting that a federal judge in San Francisco keep him in custody pending trial.
The charges against Alfozan carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if he is convicted, according to the Justice Department complaint referenced across multiple outlets. The Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the allegations, Reuters reported. The case unfolds amid Saudi Arabia’s broader push to develop its own AI capabilities through official entities such as the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority.
