OpenAI employee charged with planting recording device in conference room A former OpenAI employee was arrested and charged after a hidden recording device was found in a company conference room, according to federal prosecutors and OpenAI. An employee of OpenAI has been arrested and charged with secretly installing a recording device inside a conference room to capture sensitive conversations, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco and a statement from the company. OpenAI Employee Arrested for Concealing Audio DeviceThe complaint did not identify the company, but OpenAI confirmed in a separate statement that it had discovered a sophisticated recording device hidden inside one of its offices. The company reported the finding to the FBI and fired the employee. Ohad Alfozan made his first court appearance Tuesday on a charge of using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications.It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. The recording device was found September 30, concealed in toilet paper and inserted into a USB port on the back of a television in the conference room, according to the complaint.Though the conference room where the recording device was found did not have a camera at the time it was installed, closed-circuit television footage inside the company's offices revealed that Alfozan was near the conference room on a half-dozen occasions last month despite not having any authority to access the space, the complaint says. The company subsequently added a camera to the room that last week captured Alfozan entering and checking behind the television where the recording device was installed, according to the FBI.The complaint also alleges that Alfozan used a productivity tool to make multiple inquiries about the company's building addresses, meeting rooms, meeting-room capacities and calendars. Before his arrest last week, the complaint says, Alfozan left an unattended bag in a different room in the building that included his wallet, identification and another recording device.FBI and OpenAI Investigate Spying IncidentAn OpenAI spokesperson said: 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. We referred the matter to the FBI, and we're grateful to the agents and prosecutors who moved quickly to make an arrest. The FBI's investigation is ongoing and we will continue to support their work.The spokesperson added: At this time, we have no indications of this individual inappropriately accessing or exfiltrating model weights, source code, or customer data. The employee was terminated. The arrest comes amid heightened scrutiny of OpenAI, which recently decided to halt the release of its newest ChatGPT model due to concerns of going rogue. AI strategist and media consultant Mohit Rajhans discussed that decision in a video segment.