OpenAI Engineer Allegedly Used a Chatbot to Help Hide a Listening Device in Toilet Paper

An OpenAI engineer allegedly used a chatbot to help prepare a listening device hidden in toilet paper inside an executive conference room. A recording device concealed in toilet paper and plugged into a television is an unlikely discovery at one of the world’s leading AI companies. Federal prosecutors say that is exactly what OpenAI staff found inside an executive conference room—and that an engineer’s chatbot history helped connect him to it. Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, was arrested on October 9 and appeared in federal court on October 13, charged with using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications. He had worked at OpenAI since July 2025. The company says it has since fired him.