ChatGPT prompts read like a to-do list.
Build “a continuous audio recorder”. Add “live listening” and “download/delete recordings”. Encrypt the SD card. Make the USB output “power only”. Develop “a second unit and speech-triggered recording”, then “a third unit”. Finally, “apply final protection and silence boot output”.
According to court documents unsealed Tuesday, the prompts were sent between September 24 and 30 from a ChatGPT account linked to the wife of Abdulrahman Alfozan, an OpenAI engineer and Saudi national who has resided legally in the United States since September 2020. Prosecutors allege that around September 28, Alfozan hid a recording device behind a television in an executive conference room in one of the buildings of the company in San Francisco after prompting an AI chatbot associated with his wife. to build it. The complaint does not bring charges against his wife.
The federal complaint against Alfozan does not specify which chatbot Alfozan allegedly used to issue such prompts, but OpenAI confirmed to Fortune that the chatbot was the company’s ChatGPT. The chatbot referenced Alfozan’s personal AI chatbot account and shared unique identifiers and IP usage. But his wife’s account isn’t the only chatbot Alfozan allegedly used in this recording incident: About six weeks earlier, according to court documents, Alfozan used an internal productivity agent at OpenAI to determine which meeting rooms had a capacity of six or more people and which could accommodate large meetings.
“What about external partners, where do they usually meet,” Alfozan allegedly asked OpenAI’s productivity officer, according to court documents. OpenAI has not yet responded to Fortunerequests comment on whether the company was alerted to Alfozan’s prompts before discovering the recording device. According to an FBI agent’s affidavit in court documents, Alfozan chose this specific conference room, after informing the productivity officer, because the meetings held there “would frequently involve discussions of highly confidential technical, commercial, and strategic information, including proprietary research, product plans, and business development opportunities.”
The affidavit also states that the room “is typically used for internal management meetings…as well as external briefings with government officials and business counterparts.” Alfozan did not have authorized access to the conference room; only executives and their assistants could reserve it.
Who is Abdulrahman Alfozan and what has he done?
Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national, was arrested on October 9, according to the Justice Department. He faces one count under the federal wiretapping law, punishable by up to five years in prison.
The affidavit says he used a device to intercept oral communications, but it remains unclear whether the device actually captured a conversation. When OpenAI made a forensic copy of the memory card, “none of the files on it could be recovered or decrypted,” the agent wrote.
OpenAI and the Justice Department described the content as encrypted; the affidavit says they “could have been.”
The rest of the case runs on cameras and logs. OpenAI did not have a camera in the room when the device was placed. Video surveillance inside the company’s offices recorded Alfozan near the room on 10 different days in September. Court documents indicate that on September 28, the day the device’s firmware was compiled, he was near the room from 2:18 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Staff found the device on September 30, wrapped in toilet paper, hidden behind a TV in the room during a routine sweep, OpenAI said. Fortune. It was a Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense, a thumb-sized board with a microphone and microSD storage, made by a company based in Shenzhen. This prompted OpenAI and the FBI to cooperate, and by October 5, a camera had been placed in the room. In the complaint photo (and above), Alfozan was filmed at 1:20:47 p.m. that day checking behind the television.
The same day, according to court documents, he left a bag at a print shop. Security searched the bag and found his wallet, ID card, and a second Seeed registration board inside, which security removed from his bag. After telling the company he had lost the bag and picking it up from lost and found around noon the next day, he sent a written update inquiring about what he described as “stolen” items.
“A few items were stolen: credit card, cash (~$500), 2 AirPods, 1 headset, sunglasses, power bank.” He did not ask about the second recording device. CCTV later showed him moving items into a Target bag that day.
According to the motion, Alfozan, his wife and a third family member had booked a one-way ticket from San Francisco to Saudi Arabia, via Istanbul, for October 12. Prosecutors wrote that he “has the means – and will be incentivized – to flee the United States sooner if he becomes aware of this matter before he is arrested.” He was arrested on October 9, three days before his one-way flight.
What are the consequences?
The government’s cover page calls for no bail and lists “deportation” among the possible sanctions.
The complaint does not relate to the theft of trade secrets or economic espionage, nor to any foreign connection. But an attorney from the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of the National Security Division is assisting the prosecution, according to the Justice Department. The sealing motion also asked to allow prosecutors to share the records with “any other law enforcement and intelligence agencies that may be necessary for investigative purposes.”
Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton said the intelligence community is committed to protecting U.S. intellectual property “against foreign threats.” FBI Director Kash Patel has called protecting “American IS innovation” one of the bureau’s “highest counterintelligence priorities.” OpenAI said in a post on X that there was “no indication” that it had taken model weights, source code or customer data.
Under the Speedy Trial Act, prosecutors have 30 days from his arrest to charge him, and a grand jury can add charges. Alfozan made his first appearance Tuesday and is due back in court Oct. 19 for a detention hearing.
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