An OpenAI engineer has been arrested after allegedly installing a hidden audio recording device inside the company's office in San Francisco, the United States, according to statements released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and OpenAI.

OpenAI said in a post on X that it had "discovered a sophisticated recording device that was hidden inside one of our offices" and "referred the matter to the FBI."

There is currently no evidence that the individual improperly accessed or exfiltrated model weights, source code or customer data, the company added.

OpenAI's security team discovered the device on September 30 during a routine inspection. The employee, a Saudi national, was arrested on October 9, the DOJ said.

According to the DOJ, Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old engineer who had worked for OpenAI since July 2025, allegedly wrapped a USB device in toilet paper and inserted it into a television in an executive conference room.

Closed-circuit television footage from the company's office showed that Alfozan "appeared near the executive conference room on multiple dates prior to the device's discovery," although he was not authorized to attend meetings held there.

He also used a "productivity tool" to search for information about OpenAI's office buildings, meeting rooms, calendars, schedules and people's locations, according to the DOJ statement.

Before joining OpenAI, Alfozan had reportedly worked at other major technology companies, including Meta and Microsoft.

The FBI investigation is ongoing.

(With input from AFP)