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US prosecutors say the former OpenAI engineer accused of installing eavesdropping equipment in an OpenAI executive conference room has Saudi government ties. According to BBC reporting, prosecutors say an unnamed member of the Saudi royal family was in frequent contact with him via WhatsApp and tried to recruit him to join a Saudi AI program; he is also alleged to have said in May that Saudi Arabia needed him more than the US did, but that he would wait until his OpenAI stock vested before acting. Prosecutors also say he used his wife's ChatGPT account to research making and encrypting recording devices, and used OpenAI's internal productivity agent to find out which rooms executives and external partners used. OpenAI says it has found no indication that model weights, source code, or customer data were stolen. The case remains at the stage of prosecutors' allegations, with no subsequent evidence-supported developments.
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Oct 20
Rohan Paul
US prosecutors say former employee accused of planting eavesdropping devices in OpenAI executives' meeting rooms had Saudi government support
BBC reports that US prosecutors say Alfozan, a former OpenAI engineer accused of planting eavesdropping devices in OpenAI executives' meeting rooms, has Saudi government ties. Prosecutors say an unnamed member of the Saudi royal family communicated with him frequently via WhatsApp and tried to recruit him to join a Saudi AI program; he is also alleged to have said in May that Saudi Arabia needed him more than the United States did, but that he would wait until his OpenAI stock vested before acting. Prosecutors say he used his wife's ChatGPT account to research making and encrypting recording devices, and used OpenAI's internal productivity agent to find rooms used by executives and external partners; OpenAI said it found no signs that model weights, source code, or customer data had been stolen.