Feds seek no-bail detention for OpenAI bugging suspect tied to Saudi
Why it matters: Prosecutors warned the alleged recording device may have exposed meetings between OpenAI executives and US officials.
Federal prosecutors asked a judge in San Francisco to hold Abdulrahman Alfozan without bail after charging the former OpenAI engineer with secretly planting a recording device in a company conference room. In a court filing, prosecutors said the alleged conduct could threaten US national security because OpenAI executives met with government officials in that room around the time the device was installed in late September. They also argued Alfozan is a flight risk, citing frequent WhatsApp contact with a member of the Saudi royal family, a planned one-way trip to Riyadh, and a Saudi military official's payment for one-way tickets that took his wife and infant son from San Francisco to Doha after his Oct. 9 arrest.