Recording device hidden in toilet paper found in top-secret OpenAI meeting room

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It took OpenAI two days to notice that a recording device was hidden in a restricted executive conference room where leadership met to discuss highly confidential information, including technical progress, government engagements, and commercial partnerships. Only those with special clearance are supposed to access that room.

OpenAI 花了两天时间才发现，一个录音设备被藏在了一间受限的高管会议室里。该会议室是领导层讨论高度机密信息（包括技术进展、政府合作和商业伙伴关系）的地方，只有获得特殊许可的人员才能进入。

But the FBI believes the recording device was planted by Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old engineer from Saudi Arabia, who became a permanent US legal resident in 2020. In a press release Tuesday announcing his arrest, the FBI alleged that chatbot logs and CCTV footage suggested that Alfozan—who worked as an OpenAI engineer for more than a year—sought to use the device to spy on OpenAI and risked leaking trade secrets in a way that threatened national security.

但联邦调查局（FBI）认为，该录音设备是由 35 岁的沙特阿拉伯籍工程师 Abdulrahman Alfozan 安置的，他于 2020 年成为美国永久合法居民。在周二宣布其被捕的新闻稿中，FBI 指称聊天机器人日志和闭路电视监控录像显示，曾在 OpenAI 工作了一年多的 Alfozan 试图利用该设备监视 OpenAI，并可能以威胁国家安全的方式泄露商业机密。

To conceal the USB device, Alfozan allegedly wrapped it in toilet paper, then plugged it into the back of a conference room television. The device was likely planted on September 28, and OpenAI found it on September 30 and quickly determined that its contents were encrypted, the FBI said. Days later, on October 5, OpenAI installed a camera in that conference room, and the CCTV footage allegedly showed Alfozan attempting to retrieve the recording device that same day.

据称，为了隐藏这个 USB 设备，Alfozan 用卫生纸将其包裹起来，然后插在会议室电视机的背面。FBI 表示，该设备很可能是在 9 月 28 日被安置的，OpenAI 于 9 月 30 日发现并迅速确定其内容已加密。几天后的 10 月 5 日，OpenAI 在该会议室安装了摄像头，闭路电视录像显示 Alfozan 当天试图取回该录音设备。

If convicted of violating laws against unlawful recordings, Alfozan faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the FBI said. OpenAI did not immediately move to eject Alfozan as a suspected spy. Instead, it gradually cut off his access to systems while working with the FBI to analyze the recording device’s contents. Once enough evidence was gathered, OpenAI timed Alfozan’s firing on Friday with the FBI’s arrest.

FBI 表示，如果因违反非法录音相关法律被定罪，Alfozan 将面临最高五年的监禁和 25 万美元的罚款。OpenAI 并没有立即将 Alfozan 作为嫌疑间谍驱逐，而是逐步切断了他对系统的访问权限，同时与 FBI 合作分析录音设备的内容。在收集到足够证据后，OpenAI 在周五配合 FBI 的逮捕行动解雇了 Alfozan。

Citing a Trump memo ordering coordinated efforts to maintain America’s AI advantage, FBI Director Kash Patel celebrated Alfozan’s arrest and vowed to continue policing efforts to spy on frontier labs like OpenAI. It’s “essential to safeguarding our nation’s economic strength and national security, and the FBI views that mission as one of our highest counterintelligence priorities,” Patel said.

FBI 局长 Kash Patel 援引特朗普关于协调努力以保持美国人工智能优势的备忘录，对 Alfozan 的被捕表示赞赏，并誓言将继续监管针对 OpenAI 等前沿实验室的间谍活动。Patel 表示：“这对于维护我国的经济实力和国家安全至关重要，FBI 将此任务视为我们最重要的反间谍优先事项之一。”

OpenAI hired Alfozan in July 2025, but the record suggests that he started acting suspiciously in the past few months. In August, Alfozan allegedly used an OpenAI productivity agent to figure out where and when sensitive meetings were held, a recently unsealed affidavit submitted by FBI special agent Lydia Liang said.

OpenAI 于 2025 年 7 月聘用了 Alfozan，但记录显示他在过去几个月里开始表现出可疑行为。根据 FBI 特工 Lydia Liang 最近提交的一份解封宣誓书，Alfozan 涉嫌在 8 月份利用 OpenAI 的生产力代理工具来查明敏感会议的地点和时间。

Liang is a data analyst who joined the FBI after working for various tech companies. She analyzed the recording device that OpenAI found, which she said was a Chinese-made Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense. According to Liang, the Seeed device “had been customized to obfuscate anything stored on the device, such as potentially intercepted audio communications.” And the microSD card had “a layout consistent with a potentially encrypted file system.”

Liang 是一名数据分析师，曾在多家科技公司工作后加入 FBI。她分析了 OpenAI 发现的录音设备，称其为中国制造的 Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense。据 Liang 称，该 Seeed 设备“经过定制，旨在混淆设备上存储的任何内容，例如可能拦截的音频通信”。此外，microSD 卡的“布局与潜在的加密文件系统一致”。

In addition to reviewing Alfozan’s queries to OpenAI’s productivity agent, the FBI also reviewed an AI chatbot account associated with his spouse. Those logs showed user prompts referencing the Seeed device’s unique MAC address, the FBI said, while researching how to continuously record on that device, set up speech-triggered recording, and encrypt an SD card, among other queries.

除了审查 Alfozan 对 OpenAI 生产力代理的查询外，FBI 还审查了与其配偶关联的 AI 聊天机器人账户。FBI 表示，这些日志显示用户提示中提到了该 Seeed 设备的唯一 MAC 地址，同时还在研究如何在该设备上进行连续录音、设置语音触发录音以及加密 SD 卡等其他查询。

“These written prompts attributable to Alfozan and/or his spouse, indicate that Alfozan inserted Recording Device 1 into the television in Conference Room 1 and was interested in building, customizing, installing, audio recording, testing, obfuscating, and remote accessing, among other things, a surreptitious audio listening and recording device,” Liang said.

Liang 说：“这些可归因于 Alfozan 和/或其配偶的书面提示表明，Alfozan 将 1 号录音设备插入了 1 号会议室的电视机中，并且对构建、定制、安装、音频录制、测试、混淆和远程访问秘密音频监听及录音设备等事项感兴趣。”

CCTV footage allegedly caught Alfozan lurking outside the executive conference room on 10 different days in September alone, Liang noted. Even more troubling to the FBI and OpenAI, it seemed that Alfozan had either deemed his plot successful and planned to plant another device or had noticed the camera stopped working and attempted to swap it out.

Liang 指出，闭路电视录像显示，仅在 9 月份，Alfozan 就有 10 天在行政会议室外徘徊。更令 FBI 和 OpenAI 感到不安的是，Alfozan 似乎要么认为他的计划成功了并打算安置另一个设备，要么是注意到摄像头停止工作并试图将其更换。

On the day he was seen checking behind the conference room TV, Alfozan also reported to OpenAI’s lost and found that he lost a bag. That bag had been left unattended in a printer room, the FBI said, where security personnel found it and discovered another Seeed device inside. Alfozan seemingly did not suspect he had been caught, as he returned to the lost and found the next day and complained about missing items from the bag. When listing what had been taken, though, he did not mention the second recording device.

在他被看到检查会议室电视机背面的当天，Alfozan 还向 OpenAI 的失物招领处报告说他丢了一个包。FBI 表示，那个包被遗弃在打印室里，安保人员发现并从中搜出了另一个 Seeed 设备。Alfozan 似乎并没有怀疑自己已被发现，因为他第二天回到失物招领处，抱怨包里少了东西。然而，在列出丢失物品时，他并没有提到第二个录音设备。

It remains unclear who the secret recordings were intended for, but that information may soon come out, as officials seem inclined to make an example of Alfozan at a time when maintaining AI dominance is a top Trump administration priority. US Attorney for the Northern District of California Craig Missakian said he would keep an eye on emerging threats in Silicon Valley.

目前尚不清楚这些秘密录音的接收方是谁，但这些信息可能很快就会水落石出，因为在特朗普政府将保持人工智能主导地位作为首要任务之际，官员们似乎倾向于将 Alfozan 作为反面教材。美国加州北区联邦检察官 Craig Missakian 表示，他将密切关注硅谷出现的新威胁。

“The Bay Area and Silicon Valley lead the world in developing tomorrow’s technology, and our Office will continue to stand at the forefront of protecting that American innovation,” Missakian said. “For us, it is a matter of national security. This arrest highlights our relentless efforts in partnership with the FBI to identify and prosecute those who seek to steal our technology, as alleged in the complaint.”

Missakian 说：“湾区和硅谷在开发未来技术方面处于世界领先地位，我们的办公室将继续站在保护美国创新的最前沿。对我们来说，这是一个国家安全问题。这次逮捕凸显了我们与 FBI 合作，识别并起诉那些试图窃取我们技术的人的坚定努力，正如起诉书中所指控的那样。”