An OpenAI Employee Allegedly Used a Chatbot to Help Plant a Recording Device at the Office
An engineer at OpenAI allegedly concealed an audio recording device in a piece of toilet paper and attached it behind a monitor inside an executive conference room at one of the company’s San Francisco offices, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday.
根据周二解封的一份刑事起诉书，OpenAI 的一名工程师涉嫌将一个录音设备藏在卫生纸里，并将其粘贴在旧金山公司办公室的一间高管会议室的显示器后方。
Abdulrahman Alfozan, who federal prosecutors describe as a 35-year-old Saudi Arabian national and US permanent resident, allegedly spent several weeks querying an unspecified “productivity agent” and an “AI chatbot” to plan his alleged surveillance operation. He used an internal OpenAI tool to ask about meetings scheduled in the targeted conference room.
联邦检察官称，35 岁的 Abdulrahman Alfozan 是沙特阿拉伯公民及美国永久居民。据称，他花费数周时间向一个未指明的“生产力代理”和“人工智能聊天机器人”进行咨询，以策划其所谓的监视行动。他利用 OpenAI 的内部工具查询了目标会议室的预定会议情况。
He also appears to have used a chatbot account associated with his spouse to ask various technical questions about setting up a covert audio recording device, according to prosecutors and the court filing. OpenAI’s security team also allegedly found an additional recording device that had not been installed in Alfozan’s bag at the office.
据检察官和法庭文件显示，他还似乎使用了与其配偶关联的聊天机器人账户，询问了关于设置隐蔽录音设备的各种技术问题。OpenAI 的安全团队还声称在办公室 Alfozan 的包里发现了另一个尚未安装的录音设备。
Alfozan couldn’t be immediately reached for comment. He made an initial appearance in US district court in San Francisco on Tuesday on one charge of “use of an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications.” If convicted, Alfozan faces up to five years in prison. He joined OpenAI in July 2025 and was fired last Friday to coincide with his arrest.
记者未能立即联系到 Alfozan 置评。周二，他在旧金山美国地方法院首次出庭，面临一项“使用电子、机械或其他设备拦截口头交流”的指控。如果罪名成立，Alfozan 将面临最高五年的监禁。他于 2025 年 7 月加入 OpenAI，并于上周五因被捕而被解雇。
Federal Bureau of Investigation director Kash Patel said in a statement that Alfozan aimed “to secretly capture sensitive communications about the company’s super intelligence technology,” but prosecutors nor OpenAI have offered any information so far about a potential motive.
联邦调查局局长 Kash Patel 在一份声明中表示，Alfozan 的目的是“秘密获取有关该公司超级智能技术的敏感通信”，但检察官和 OpenAI 迄今尚未提供任何关于其潜在动机的信息。
“At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data,” OpenAI said in a statement on X. “We take protecting our technology, data, and people seriously, and as a matter of national importance.”
OpenAI 在 X 上发表声明称：“目前，我们没有迹象表明此人曾不当访问或窃取模型权重、源代码或客户数据。我们非常重视保护我们的技术、数据和人员，并将其视为国家层面的重要事项。”
OpenAI discovered the bug—which was allegedly “concealed in toilet paper” and “inserted into a USB port on the back of a television” in the conference room—on September 30 during a countersurveillance sweep.
OpenAI 在 9 月 30 日的一次反监视排查中发现了这个窃听器，据称它被“藏在卫生纸里”，并“插入了会议室电视机背面的 USB 接口中”。
Alfozan previously worked at a cargo logistics startup and at Meta, according to a purported LinkedIn profile for him. In a recent podcast interview, Alfozan said he was also part of a group of Saudi engineers in Silicon Valley who offered consulting services to Saudi organizations.
根据一份据称属于他的 LinkedIn 个人资料，Alfozan 此前曾在一家货运物流初创公司和 Meta 工作过。在最近的一次播客采访中，Alfozan 表示他还是硅谷一个沙特工程师小组的成员，该小组为沙特机构提供咨询服务。
The LinkedIn profile lists Alfozan as a part-time “venture partner” at RAED Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Saudi Arabia. Neither RAED Ventures nor Meta immediately responded to WIRED’s request for comment.
该 LinkedIn 资料显示，Alfozan 是总部位于沙特的风险投资公司 RAED Ventures 的兼职“风险合伙人”。RAED Ventures 和 Meta 均未立即回应《连线》杂志的置评请求。
Last year, the Trump administration signed a pact with Saudi Arabia granting the kingdom access to advanced chips and AI technologies that might otherwise be restricted over national security concerns. Saudi investment firms remain a major source of capital for US tech companies.
去年，特朗普政府与沙特阿拉伯签署了一项协议，允许该国获取可能因国家安全担忧而受到限制的先进芯片和人工智能技术。沙特投资公司仍然是美国科技公司的主要资本来源。
According to the complaint, Alfozan allegedly planted the listening device “no later than on or about September 28, 2026.” The conference room Alfozan targeted “can be reserved only by executives and executive assistants,” and is typically used “for internal leadership meetings,” “technical and product sessions,” and “external briefings” with business partners and government officials, according to the complaint.
根据起诉书，Alfozan 涉嫌在“不晚于 2026 年 9 月 28 日左右”安装了该监听设备。起诉书称，Alfozan 瞄准的会议室“仅限高管和行政助理预订”，通常用于“内部领导会议”、“技术和产品会议”以及与商业伙伴和政府官员的“外部简报”。
It is frequently used for discussions involving “highly confidential” information, including about research, products, business strategy, and government relationships, the complaint stated.
起诉书指出，该会议室经常被用于讨论涉及“高度机密”的信息，包括研究、产品、商业战略和政府关系等内容。
OpenAI’s statement called the recording device “sophisticated.” Authorities allege that the device Alfozan planted was called Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense, “a thumb-sized development board with a detachable camera sensor, digital microphone, and microSD storage.” It currently retails on Seeed’s website for $13.99. OpenAI’s security team tried to export the data stored on the microSD card, but were unable to review it because it was encrypted.
OpenAI 的声明称该录音设备“很先进”。当局称 Alfozan 安装的设备名为 Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense，这是一款“拇指大小的开发板，配有可拆卸的摄像头传感器、数字麦克风和 microSD 存储卡”。该设备目前在 Seeed 网站上的零售价为 13.99 美元。OpenAI 的安全团队试图导出存储在 microSD 卡上的数据，但由于数据已加密，无法查看。
After discovering the device, OpenAI says it notified the FBI and was able to connect it to Alfozan after reviewing chat logs and surveillance footage, and searching a bag he left unattended at the office. The company then gradually disabled his access to company systems as the investigation was ongoing.
OpenAI 表示，在发现该设备后，他们通知了联邦调查局。通过审查聊天记录、监控录像以及搜查他在办公室无人看管的包，他们得以将该设备与 Alfozan 联系起来。随着调查的进行，公司随后逐步禁用了他访问公司系统的权限。
According to the complaint, OpenAI security personnel discovered the bag that Alfozan left unattended in a printer room on October 5. The security team went through the bag, which contained a second encrypted Seeed listening device and other personal items connected to Alfozan, including his wallet.
根据起诉书，OpenAI 安全人员于 10 月 5 日在打印室发现了 Alfozan 无人看管的包。安全团队检查了该包，里面装有第二个加密的 Seeed 监听设备以及其他与 Alfozan 有关的个人物品，包括他的钱包。
Prosecutors say Alfozan later reported the bag as missing to OpenAI and subsequently recovered it from the company’s lost and found. He followed up with unnamed personnel at OpenAI to say that some of the items that were supposed to be in the bag were still missing—including a credit card, about $500 in cash, and two AirPods—but neglected to mention the second listening device, which had been removed from the bag by OpenAI security.
检察官称，Alfozan 后来向 OpenAI 报告该包丢失，并随后从公司的失物招领处找回。他随后联系了 OpenAI 的相关人员，称包里本应有的一些物品仍然丢失——包括一张信用卡、约 500 美元现金和两副 AirPods——但他却只字未提已被 OpenAI 安全部门从包中取走的第二个监听设备。