Quick Info
| Profession | Software engineer |
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| Nationality | Saudi |
Latest News about Abdulrahman Alfozan
13/10/2026
Alfozan made his initial federal court appearance and remains in custody, with a detention hearing scheduled for 19/10/2026. The charges are allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
09/10/2026
Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national and OpenAI engineer, was arrested by the FBI after prosecutors alleged he hid an audio recording device in an executive conference room at OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters. OpenAI said it had terminated his employment after finding the device and taking steps to restrict his access. He was charged with using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications.
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Bio/Wiki
| Summary | Saudi software engineer who worked at OpenAI from July 2025 until his termination in October 2026. He was arrested on 09/10/2026 and charged by U.S. federal prosecutors with allegedly concealing an audio recording device in an OpenAI executive conference room in San Francisco. The charges are allegations and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. A detention hearing is scheduled for 19/10/2026. |
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| Location | Reported as based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in some professional profiles |
Educational Qualification(s)
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Studied computer science and engineering, as listed in a venture firm announcement |
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| King Saud University | Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, 2017 to 2022, per a professional profile |
| University of California, Berkeley | Master's in Data Science, reported as completed in 2025 per an online resume |
Personal Life
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Career
| Internship | Intern at Akamai Technologies in 2012 while studying at MIT, according to reports |
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| Meta | Senior systems engineer at Meta Platforms (then Facebook) for roughly five years |
| Other earlier roles | Internships with Microsoft and SAP; previous position at Reach Labs |
| Nash | Founding engineer at AI logistics infrastructure company Nash |
| RAED Ventures | Venture partner at Saudi venture capital firm RAED Ventures, announced February 2025 |
| OpenAI | Engineer at OpenAI from July 2025; terminated on 09/10/2026 after the recording device incident, according to the company |
| Qwacks | Listed as CTO and co-founder of Qwacks since January 2025 in a professional profile |
| Jahez Group | Listed as a former senior software engineer at Jahez Group in a professional profile |
| Legal matter | Arrested 09/10/2026 and charged with using or attempting to use a device to intercept oral communications; initial federal court appearance held on 13/10/2026 and he remains in federal custody |
Some Lesser Known Facts
| 1. Reportedly described in a YouTube interview as OpenAI's only Saudi employee | |
| 2. Prosecutors said he was not authorized to enter the executive conference room where the device was found | |
| 3. Prosecutors said he had used an internal productivity tool to search for information about OpenAI buildings and conference room locations |
