OpenAI engineer charged over hidden meeting-room recorder
· BehindLines newsroom
An OpenAI engineer, a 35-year-old Saudi national, has been charged by US federal authorities over a recorder hidden
in an executive meeting room at the company's San Francisco offices. He is accused of using, or attempting to use, a
device to intercept conversations. He appeared in court on Tuesday; he remains presumed innocent, and it is unclear
whether he has a lawyer, the BBC reports. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
A recorder behind a television
According to the criminal complaint cited by the BBC and DW, the encrypted device, wrapped in toilet paper, was
plugged into a USB port on the back of a television. Employees found it on September 30, two days after it was
allegedly installed. A camera subsequently added to the room allegedly recorded the suspect returning to check it on
October 5. That same day, prosecutors say, a bag he had left elsewhere in the building contained his identification
documents and a second similar device. He was arrested last Friday, according to DW.
AI used to investigate, and to prepare
OpenAI says it used its own models to analyse the device and trace it back to the employee, who has since been
dismissed, without explaining how. The company says it has no indication that its model weights, source code or
customer data were accessed, or that anything was leaked. According to the complaint, the suspect allegedly
researched sensitive locations using a productivity tool. An account for a conversational assistant associated with
his spouse allegedly also served to research how to build, encrypt and conceal a recorder; investigators say they
found identifiers shared with the suspect's account. FBI director Kash Patel refers to an intention to obtain
information about one of the company's AI products; the complaint does not say what the suspect intended to do with
the recordings, DW notes.
A series of controversies
The Guardian places the case alongside several recent controversies: a subpoena from California's attorney general
following hacking carried out by autonomous agents, and then the dismissal last week of three security researchers
accused of sharing sensitive information. The federal investigation continues.