An ex-OpenAI engineer accused of planting a recording device in an executive conference room at the AI company appears to have received considerable support from the Saudi government, United States prosecutors have said in a court filing. Federal prosecutors allege that the defendant, Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, was in frequent communication with an unnamed member of the Saudi royal family and that a Saudi military official paid for a one-way plane ticket for Alfozan's wife and young son to return to Saudi Arabia after his arrest, according to the court document, made public late on Sunday. Alfozan, a Saudi national and lawful permanent resident in the US, is scheduled to appear in federal court in San Francisco later on Monday. The case has highlighted security challenges around sensitive AI research as companies and governments compete fiercely for an edge in the transformational technology. "The defendant went to significant lengths to create customized, encrypted recording devices to secretly record highly sensitive meetings involving senior OpenAI personnel and executives, high-level business counterparts, and government officials, all while communicating with individuals of significance in Saudi Arabia and pursuing opportunities in -- and making plans to travel to -- Saudi Arabia," prosecutors wrote in a detention memo.

A former OpenAI engineer accused of planting a listening device at the AI company was communicating with Saudi royal family members before his FBI arrest, prosecutors say.

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. Here's what we know about the man who allegedly bugged an OpenAI conference room in San Francisco The OpenAI logo is seen displayed on a cell phone in front of an image on a computer screen generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model, Friday, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search.

The Saudi national accused of bugging OpenAI's headquarters booked a one-way flight to Saudi Arabia before his arrest, US prosecutors have alleged. Abdulrahman Alfozan, a former OpenAI engineer, had been scheduled to fly to Saudi Arabia with his wife and another family member on October 12, prosecutors said in a court filing unsealed on Wednesday. Alfozan, 35, has been charged with "using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications". The offence carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Prosecutors disclosed the alleged flight booking to a judge on October 8 in a motion seeking to seal the criminal complaint against Alfozan, arguing he had the "means - and will have an incentive - to flee" the United States.

Russell Brand was a'sexual predator', says prosecution as rape trial begins To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Russell Brand was described as ruthless and a sexual predator by the prosecution at the start of his trial for rape and sexual assault on Wednesday. The 51-year-old actor and comedian faces three counts of rape, three charges of sexual assault and one of indecent assault. The allegations, made by six female complainants, span a 10-year period between 1999 and 2009. Riel Karmy-Jones KC, for the prosecution, told Southwark Crown Court in London the women did not know each other, have never met each other and came forward independently of each other.

A Saudi national who worked as an engineer at the artificial intelligence firm OpenAI has been arrested after a listening device was found in the company's conference room, according to United States authorities. In a statement on Tuesday, the Department of Justice said that the employee, identified as a 35-year-old Saudi engineer named Abdulrahman Alfozan, had worked at the company since July 2025. Alfozan made his first court appearance on Tuesday and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. "Protecting American [super intelligence] innovation is essential to safeguarding our nation's economic strength and national security, and the FBI views that mission as one of our highest counterintelligence priorities," Kash Patel, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), said in response to the arrest. The incident raises concerns about surveillance and underhanded efforts to gain an edge in the AI sector, where companies and countries have angled for an advantage.

Saudi man charged with planting'sophisticated' recording device in OpenAI office A Saudi national has been charged with secretly planting a recording device in one of OpenAI's offices in California, federal prosecutors announced. Abdulrahman Alfozan, who worked at the AI firm as an engineer, was charged federally with using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications. OpenAI said it had discovered a sophisticated recording device hidden in their San Francisco office and alerted the FBI. The company said it used its AI models to track that it had been planted by an employee. Prosecutors say the device, wrapped in toilet paper, was found inserted in a USB port on the back of a TV in an executive conference room.

US federal prosecutors have arrested and charged a Saudi national with allegedly hiding a sophisticated recording device inside of OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters. Per the San Francisco Standard, Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old engineer who had been with the company since July 2025, has been accused of attempting to record oral conversations between OpenAI employees. Alfozan allegedly left a DIY recording device inside of an executive conference room he wasn't authorized to enter or use. We discovered a sophisticated recording device that was hidden inside one of our offices. We used our models to understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier.

Law enforcement in the northwestern United States have charged a suspect in connection with a deadly shooting at a Canadian school in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. On Tuesday, prosecutors charged 30-year-old James Cody Bryant, a resident of Washington state, with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country. The shooting was "a horrific tragedy for that small community and for all of Canada", acting US Attorney Neil Floyd said at a news conference in Seattle. "Indeed, here in the Pacific Northwest, we felt the pain of those families devastated by this violence." Canadian officials have described the attack as one of the country's worst mass shootings. The suspect, 18-year-old transgender woman Jesse Van Rootselaar, shot and killed her mother and half-brother at their home before travelling to the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and opening fire .

Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Trending Now Mashable Selects Say More Top creators, ranked Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Creator Playbook In My Bag AI at School Safety Net Versus All Series The sexual assault allegations have renewed calls to update consent laws. Here's what a proposed fix would do. Olivia Tauber is the deputy editor of digital culture, covering creators, media, movies, beauty, and more. Based in New York, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Cut, Teen Vogue, Complex, and Interview Magazine. She holds a Master's degree in Journalism from NYU and a Bachelor's from the University of Michigan.