OpenAI bugging suspect WhatsApp'ed Saudi royal days before arrest, feds reveal

Photo of Abdulrahman Alfozan checking a recording device in OpenAI's office in San Francisco, California.Courtesy: U.S. Department of JusticeThe Saudi national charged with planting a recording device in a sensitive OpenAI executive conference room in San Francisco was "in frequent communications via WhatsApp with a member of the Saudi Royal Family" throughout 2025 and 2026, prosecutors revealed in a bombshell court filing Sunday. The defendant, Abdulrahman Alfozan, communicated with the Saudi royal as recently as Oct. 5 — four days before he was arrested, the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco said in the filing, which requests that he be detained without bail.Prosecutors did not identify the Saudi royal, or say in the filing how Alfozan, who then was working as an engineer at OpenAI, knew that person. "Among other things, the individual [the royal family member] told the defendant [Alfozan] that an artificial intelligence initiative was being launched in Saudi Arabia and wanted the defendant to join it," prosecutors wrote in their filing."In May 2026, the individual told the defendant, 'Saudi needs you more then [sic] the US!' to which the defendant responded '100,' indicati...