OpenAI: Investigators check connections to Saudi Arabia after wiretapping accusations

OpenAI headquarters in San Francisco

A former engineer at AI company OpenAI is said to have installed a recording device in a conference room to listen to confidential conversations. US prosecutors also suspect that the 35-year-old has connections to the Saudi leadership. They demand that the accused be kept in custody until the trial.

According to a court document, the suspect is said to have regularly communicated with an unspecified member of the Saudi royal family. In addition, a Saudi military representative is said to have paid after his arrest a one-way ticket for his wife and their son to Saudi Arabia. The public prosecutor's office therefore sees the accused as at risk of flight.

The suspect was charged last week with unauthorized interception of conversations using an electronic device. According to investigators, he mounted the recording device on the back of a TV in a conference room at the OpenAI building in San Francisco. Confidential meetings with company executives, business partners and government representatives are said to have taken place in this room.

OpenAI had discovered the device on September 30 and reported the case to the FBI. The investigation is ongoing. According to the public prosecutor, further charges could be added.

The lawyer of the suspect, William Pernik, had previously requested that his client be released under conditions. He has been living in the US for 15 years and has applied for US citizenship. A planned trip to Saudi Arabia had already been booked before the start of the investigation and had served family and residence reasons, the lawyer said.

The suspect himself had spoken in a podcast last month about his connections to Saudi Arabia. He visits the country three to four times a year and advises start-ups there. A meeting with the then Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2016 motivated him to first gain experience at a leading technology company in order to bring this knowledge back to his homeland later.

Whether he actually acted on behalf of Saudi Arabian authorities has not yet been clarified by a court. The Saudi Arabian government initially did not comment on the allegations. The presumption of innocence applies.

Editor’s note: In a first version of this report, we had reported identifyingly about the suspect. We have corrected that accordingly.