# An OpenAI Employee Allegedly Used a Chatbot to Help Plant a Recording Device at the Office

> **Publication**: aitalky (Independent AI Journalism)
> **Canonical Citation URL**: https://aitalky.vercel.app/news/an-openai-employee-allegedly-used-a-chatbot-to-help-plant-a-recording-device-at-the
> **Original Source**: [Wired AI](https://www.wired.com/story/an-openai-employee-allegedly-used-a-chatbot-to-help-plant-a-recording-device-at-the-office/)
> **Author**: Paresh Dave, Maddy Varner, Caroline Haskins (undefined)
> **Published Date**: Tuesday, October 13, 2026
> **Category**: CULTURE
> **Tags**: AI, Wired AI, culture

## Executive Summary
Chatbot prompts reveal the engineer's alleged efforts to set up a covert listening device days before one was found in a meeting room used by high-level executives



## Full Coverage
Photograph: Department of Justice/REUTERS Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story 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

Abdulrahman Alfozan, whom 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

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

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