OpenAI found a recorder plugged into its boardroom TV. Its AI traced an engineer.
OpenAI found the device on 30 September in a USB port behind a television in an executive conference room at its San Francisco office.
According to a federal complaint reported by CBS News and CNBC on 13 October, it was "concealed in toilet paper" and had been there for about two days.
The room hosted discussions about research, product plans and business development. An engineer who joined in July 2025 was arrested on 9 October and charged with attempting to intercept oral communications. His lawyer says he is presumed innocent. A detention hearing is set for 19 October.
OpenAI says it "used our models to understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it". It fired the employee and contacted the FBI. It says it has no indication that he took model weights, source code or customer data.
The complaint does not establish what the recorder captured. OpenAI has also not explained what its models examined or how that helped identify the employee.
What would your company need to see before acting on a model's finding about an employee?
Sources
Our file on OpenAI
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