Ex-OpenAI engineer, accused of planting office bug, had ties with Saudi royal family

Former OpenAI engineer and Saudi national Abdulrahman Alfozan/Image: Reuters A former OpenAI engineer accused of planting a bug in the company’s San Francisco office was in contact with a member of the Saudi royal family who urged him to return to the kingdom and join its artificial intelligence initiative, prosecutors said, as cited by CBS News.Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national, was arrested on October 9 over allegations that he installed a recording device in a conference room used by OpenAI executives. Prosecutors say he was preparing to leave the United States for Riyadh with his wife and infant son when he was detained.An 11-page court filing accessed by CBS News details WhatsApp exchanges between Alfozan and an unidentified Saudi royal, who allegedly encouraged him to work on an AI initiative in Saudi Arabia.“Saudi needs you more than [sic] the US!” the royal family member allegedly wrote. Prosecutors said Alfozan agreed to the proposal but indicated he would wait until his company stock vested before leaving.Investigators also found photographs of other possible surveillance locations and searches related to meetings between OpenAI executives and Saudi government officia...