On 14 October 2026 I discovered that OpenAI had a hidden recording device in the executive conference room of its San Francisco office. The device was tucked behind a TV, plugged into the TV’s back panel, and wrapped in toilet paper. OpenAI used its own AI models to analyze the hardware and trace it back to a 35‑year‑old engineer hired in July 2025, who was then arrested by the FBI. The investigation found no evidence of model‑weight theft, source‑code exfiltration, or customer‑data breach, and the engineer was immediately terminated.
The device was hidden behind a TV, plugged into the back of the TV, and wrapped in toilet paper.
The engineer arrested was 35 years old.
The engineer had been hired by OpenAI in July 2025.
OpenAI reports there was no sign the engineer accessed model weights, source code, or customer data.