The alleged spying at OpenAI has prompted a national security response from US authorities after the FBI arrested a Saudi engineer accused of planting a hidden audio recorder at the company’s San Francisco offices.
Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, was arrested on October 9. The California-based firm is the creator of ChatGPT and describes its mission as ensuring that artificial general intelligence benefits humanity.
The US Department of Justice said Mr Alfozan was accused of installing a “surreptitious audio recording device” in an executive conference room. The device was allegedly concealed in toilet paper and attached to the back of a television monitor.
If convicted, Mr Alfozan faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 250,000 US dollars.
The case has been framed by senior officials as a threat to American technological and economic interests. Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, said the incident showed why “winning the global super intelligence race is a national security prerogative”.
FBI director Kash Patel said: “Protecting American SI innovation is essential to safeguarding our nation’s economic strength and national security.” He added that the bureau would continue working to ensure the US maintained its competitive edge.
OpenAI spying arrest follows copyright claims
The strong official response has drawn attention to the contrasting legal allegations facing OpenAI over how its own technology was developed.
The day before Mr Alfozan’s arrest, USA Today and other newspapers filed a copyright infringement case against OpenAI in a Manhattan federal court. They accuse the company of using hundreds of thousands of news articles and other material without authorisation to develop ChatGPT.
In July, several US media organisations, including the New York Times and New York Daily News, also asked a federal judge to sanction OpenAI. Their lawyer, Steven Lieberman, accused the company of “hiding and destroying evidence showing how ChatGPT was trained on stolen journalism”.
The allegations against OpenAI remain part of ongoing legal proceedings, while the accusations against Mr Alfozan have not been proved in court.
The episode has nevertheless prompted questions about the different ways intellectual property and surveillance are treated when they involve a major technology company or an individual employee. A small recording device, reported to be available online for 13.99 US dollars, has been presented by officials as part of a wider contest over advanced technology.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Tuesday that the “theft of intellectual property involving cutting-edge super intelligence technology poses a serious threat to our national security”. He said continued “swift action” was needed to protect American innovation.
The case also comes amid wider concerns about the use of technology for surveillance. The raw material cited examples of police officers using automated number plate readers to track former partners, as well as US government agencies buying large amounts of personal data from technology companies.
OpenAI and other technology firms working with the Pentagon have also been linked to US efforts to expand military applications of artificial intelligence, while an Associated Press report said US technology companies had increased services used by Israel to identify alleged militants in Gaza and Lebanon. The report said civilian deaths had also risen, raising fears about the contribution of those systems to the deaths of innocent people.
Against that backdrop, the arrest has become a pointed example of the tension between the US government’s determination to protect the technology industry and the scrutiny facing companies whose own practices are being challenged in court.
