The OpenAI employee who was arrested and charged with allegedly using a hidden recording device in one of the ChatGPT maker’s San Francisco offices had a one-way ticket to Saudi Arabia booked for October 12, according to a court filing.
The incident is poised to heighten concerns about the security at top tech companies at a moment when nations are competing to develop more powerful AI systems.
Alfozan, who is alleged to have placed the device, is currently in federal custody and appeared in court in San Francisco on Tuesday. William Pernik, an attorney for Alfozan, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He’s next scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Alex G.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi Arabian national, was arrested on October 9, more than a week after staffers at OpenAI discovered an audio recording device planted behind a television in an executive conference room, the Justice Department said on Tuesday. In a motion that was filed on October 8, attorneys for the United States asked a judge to seal the criminal complaint, arrest warrant and other filings related to its case against Alfozan. Tse in federal court in the Northern District of California in San Francisco on October 19.
Alfozan, his wife and another family member had booked one-way tickets to Saudi Arabia, via Istanbul, from San Francisco, according to the filing. “The defendant has the means – and will have an incentive – to flee the United States sooner if he learns about this case before he is arrested,” the government attorneys wrote. In response to Alfozan’s arrest Tuesday, Pernik said they “look forward to presenting all appropriate defenses in court.
