FBI Arrests OpenAI Engineer for Bugging Boardroom With DIY Wiretap

Fireship

Federal authorities caught an OpenAI engineering lead wiretapping the company's executive suite after he used his wife's ChatGPT account to build the device and pasted its hardware address directly into the model.

AI-assisted summary of OpenAI’s lead engineer was secretly a spy... — original source. Check the original for full context.

Source published: 2026-10-14

Key ideas

The FBI arrested Abdul Raman Alphazan, an engineering lead on OpenAI's Agents platform, for planting a physical listening device behind the TV in the executive conference room. (0:00)
Alphazan designed the bug using his wife's ChatGPT account, assembled it with a $23 microcontroller wrapped in toilet paper, and was caught within 48 hours during a routine counter-surveillance sweep. (1:00)
Investigators linked the hardware directly to Alphazan after finding its MAC address pasted into his wife's ChatGPT troubleshooting logs. (2:30)
Though charged strictly with federal wiretapping, Alphazan's venture ties in Riyadh alongside Prince Khaled bin Bader Al-Saud, whose father is a senior Saudi intelligence officer, have raised foreign espionage concerns. (3:32)

Detailed notes

## Background Published by the tech channel Fireship (hosted by Jeff Delaney) on YouTube on October 14, 2026, this video covers the bizarre arrest of an OpenAI engineering lead. According to the description, the engineer constructed a physical wiretap using his wife's ChatGPT account, wrapped it in toilet paper behind the executive boardroom TV, and was caught within 48 hours.

## TL;DR OpenAI Agents platform lead Abdul Raman Alphazan was arrested by the FBI and charged with federal wiretapping after planting a covert listening device in OpenAI's executive conference room. Alphazan used internal agents to map executive schedules and turned to his wife's ChatGPT account to design a $23 microcontroller recording rig, which he camouflaged in bathroom toilet paper and plugged into a boardroom TV USB port. The device was discovered after just two days during a routine sweep, and OpenAI tracked him down after finding the board's MAC address in his wife's ChatGPT troubleshooting logs and catching him on a hidden security camera. Although formally charged with wiretapping rather than espionage, Alphazan's venture capital ties to a Saudi prince with family links to Saudi intelligence raised suspicions of foreign surveillance during a period of mounting scrutiny for OpenAI.

## Atmosphere & style The video carries Fireship's signature rapid-fire, deadpan snark, blending dry technical analysis with merciless comedic roasts of Alphazan's amateur spycraft. Delaney strikes an amused, incredulous tone as he contrasts sophisticated historical espionage against a toilet-paper-wrapped circuit board plugged directly into a conference room display. The pacing is snappy and punchy, turning a serious corporate breach into an entertaining, almost farcical post-mortem of tradecraft gone wrong.

## Bulletin - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=0s) The FBI arrested Abdul Raman Alphazan, an engineering lead on OpenAI's Agents platform, for planting a physical listening device behind the TV in the executive conference room. - [01:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=60s) Alphazan designed the bug using his wife's ChatGPT account, assembled it with a $23 microcontroller wrapped in toilet paper, and was caught within 48 hours during a routine counter-surveillance sweep. - [02:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=150s) Investigators linked the hardware directly to Alphazan after finding its MAC address pasted into his wife's ChatGPT troubleshooting logs. - [03:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=212s) Though charged strictly with federal wiretapping, Alphazan's venture ties in Riyadh alongside Prince Khaled bin Bader Al-Saud, whose father is a senior Saudi intelligence officer, have raised foreign espionage concerns.

## Key takeaways - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=0s) OpenAI engineering lead Abdul Raman Alphazan was arrested by federal law enforcement after placing a physical wiretap inside OpenAI's executive conference room. - [00:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=24s) Alphazan held degrees from UC Berkeley and MIT and previously worked at Meta before joining OpenAI in July 2025 as its sole Saudi employee. - [00:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=50s) The suspect used an internal OpenAI AI agent to map executive briefing schedules, room capacities, and visits from high-profile external partners. - [01:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=65s) To engineer the listening device, Alphazan prompted GPT-4o through his wife's account for step-by-step instructions on creating a Wi-Fi-enabled recording rig with an encrypted SD card. - [01:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=90s) The bug consisted of a $23 Seeed Studio microcontroller board and a 50-cent antenna camouflaged in single-ply toilet paper and plugged into a conference room TV USB port. - [02:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=135s) OpenAI's Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) team discovered the active USB bug within 48 hours during a routine security sweep. - [02:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=135s) The physical device was contrasted with Léon Theremin's 1945 passive listening bug 'The Thing,' which went undetected in the US Embassy in Moscow for seven years. - [02:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=155s) Attribution was established rapidly because Alphazan had pasted the microcontroller's exact MAC address into ChatGPT during troubleshooting two days prior. - [02:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=170s) OpenAI security cameras documented Alphazan lingering outside the boardroom on six occasions, and a hidden camera caught him inspecting the bug on October 5. - [03:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=212s) Alphazan faces one count of federal wiretapping, which only requires proving nonconsensual recording rather than the higher evidentiary threshold needed for espionage. - [03:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=225s) Public records link Alphazan to Riyadh-based R3D Ventures alongside Prince Khaled bin Bader Al-Saud, the son of a high-ranking Saudi intelligence official. - [04:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=240s) The arrest marks another internal crisis for OpenAI following the scrapping of a model deemed overly deceptive and the dismissal of three researchers for mishandling data.

## Detailed walkthrough ### [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=0s) The Single-Ply Wiretap at OpenAI HQ

The FBI announced the arrest of an engineering lead on OpenAI's Agents platform after he placed a physical listening bug inside the executive conference room at OpenAI's headquarters. Fireship host Jeff Delaney opens the story with his characteristic deadpan humor, joking that spending over 300 hours hiding inside cardboard boxes in *Metal Gear Solid* made him uniquely qualified to cover the incident. As it turns out, that gaming experience was vastly superior to the suspect's real-world tradecraft: “And it turns out that that may be more spycraft training than the suspect had because despite going to Berkeley, MIT, and previously working at Meta, the guy who got arrested seems like an absolute [idiot].” The suspect was identified in the criminal complaint as Abdul Raman Alphazan, a 35-year-old Saudi national and lawful permanent resident in the United States who joined OpenAI in July 2025. Only weeks prior to the arrest, he had been celebrated internally as the company's sole Saudi employee, famously remarking that working one year at OpenAI felt like five years anywhere else—a timeline Delaney quips matches the maximum prison sentence he now faces.

Alphazan's espionage attempt kicked off roughly a month earlier using company infrastructure. He queried an internal AI agent to scrape details about OpenAI's headquarters, mapping meeting room capacities, calendars, executive briefing schedules, and the specific dates when high-profile external partners were scheduled to visit. Between September 24 and September 30, Alphazan turned to his wife’s ChatGPT account to design a covert audio interception tool, prompting the model to explain how to assemble a Wi-Fi-enabled recording rig featuring an encrypted SD card. Delaney jokes that GPT-4o guided him step by step because his wife certainly wasn’t receiving any emotional affection from him.

Following the model's instructions, Alphazan bought a $23 Seeed Studio microcontroller board equipped with a 50-cent external antenna. Realizing the bare printed circuit board looked overtly suspicious, he attempted field camouflage: he walked into an OpenAI restroom, pulled off some toilet paper, and wrapped it around the electronics. On September 28, he allegedly plugged the single-ply-swaddled device directly into a USB port behind the television monitor inside the executive conference room.

- **Suspect**: Abdul Raman Alphazan, 35 years old, Saudi citizen, US permanent resident, and engineering lead on OpenAI's Agents platform (joined July 2025). - **Academic & Career Background**: UC Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and previously Meta. - **Hardware Profile**: A $23 Seeed Studio microcontroller paired with a $0.50 antenna and an encrypted SD card, wrapped in office toilet paper and powered via a TV USB port.

[02:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=135s) From Léon Theremin's "The Thing" to 48 Hours of Failure

To highlight how inept the operation was, Delaney contrasts Alphazan's DIY device with classic historical espionage tech—specifically "The Thing," a legendary passive cavity resonator bug designed by Russian inventor Léon Theremin for the Soviet Union in 1945. That device had no battery and zero active electronic components; it activated only when Soviet operatives parked across the street beamed a targeted radio frequency at it, rendering it undetectable to standard sweeps. Hidden within a hand-carved wooden Great Seal of the United States presented by Soviet school children as a gift of friendship, it hung on the wall of the US ambassador’s Moscow study undetected across four ambassadors for seven straight years. By comparison, Alphazan's toilet paper creation lasted approximately 48 hours before being discovered during a routine sweep by OpenAI’s Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) team.

OpenAI claimed publicly that it deployed its internal AI models to analyze the device and track down its origin. However, Delaney points out that this forensic deduction was far less sophisticated than advertised: “From there, OpenAI says they used their models to understand the device and where it came from, which sounds impressive until you remember the board has a MAC address.” Just two days before the bug was discovered, Alphazan had pasted that exact MAC address into ChatGPT while troubleshooting via his wife's account. Facility security cameras also captured him lurking suspiciously outside the executive boardroom on six different occasions. To lock down the investigation, security staff mounted a hidden camera behind the boardroom TV screen and waited. On October 5, Alphazan returned to inspect the bug; four days later, he was simultaneously terminated by OpenAI and arrested by federal authorities, charged with one count of federal wiretapping.

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: OpenAI Wiretap Investigation Timeline accDescr: Sequence of events from internal reconnaissance to the suspect's arrest by federal law enforcement.

subgraph Prep["Preparation & Build"] A["Scrapes room schedules via internal agent"] --> B["Builds $23 Seeed Studio bug via wife's ChatGPT"] B --> C["Wraps bug in toilet paper & plugs into boardroom TV"] end

subgraph Catch["Detection & Surveillance"] C --> D["Found after 48 hrs by TSCM routine sweep"] D --> E["Board MAC address matches ChatGPT chat logs"] E --> F["Boardroom security cam catches suspect returning"] end

subgraph Resolution["Action"] F --> G["Fired by OpenAI & arrested by FBI for federal wiretapping"] end ```

- **Historical Comparison**: Léon Theremin's 1945 passive listening device survived seven years inside the US Embassy in Moscow; Alphazan's active USB bug survived two days. - **Forensic Paper Trail**: The Seeed Studio board's MAC address was pasted directly into a ChatGPT session linked to the suspect's wife two days prior to discovery. - **Physical Surveillance**: Internal security logs recorded the suspect loitering near the executive conference suite on six separate days, and a hidden camera caught him checking behind the television on October 5.

[03:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=212s) Foreign Espionage Suspicions and Company Fallout

While the criminal complaint officially charges Alphazan only with federal wiretapping, questions remain about his ultimate motives. Delaney explains the legal threshold: “The charge is wiretapping, which only requires proving he secretly recorded people and not espionage, which would require proving he did it for a foreign government.” Nevertheless, external ties raise suspicion. Alphazan is listed as an investor at R3D Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Riyadh, where his profile appears on the team page alongside Prince Khaled bin Bader Al-Saud. Investigative reporter Scott Stedman highlighted that the prince's father is a high-ranking officer in Saudi intelligence. Delaney notes that the arrest caps a string of public embarrassments for OpenAI, which had recently scrapped an unreleased model after it displayed excessive deceptive behavior and dismissed three AI safety researchers over allegations of mishandling sensitive internal data.

Wrapping up the episode, Delaney transitions to show sponsor Blacksmith, a drop-in replacement for standard GitHub Actions runners designed to run CI workflows twice as fast while cutting costs by up to 75%. He showcases their new cloud coding agent, Codesmith, which integrates with codebases and CI history to automate multi-repository modifications via GitHub, web interfaces, or Slack. Delaney demonstrates using Codesmith to add a new AI provider, update API configurations across infrastructure repositories, open pull requests, and resolve test failures automatically, as well as optimizing runner size allocations based on historical CI usage.

- **Legal Charge**: One federal count of interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications (18 U.S.C. § 2511). - **Venture & Intelligence Links**: Alphazan is listed alongside Prince Khaled bin Bader Al-Saud at Riyadh-based R3D Ventures; the prince's father is a senior Saudi intelligence official. - **OpenAI Headwinds**: Preceded by the scrapping of a model judged too deceptive and the firing of three safety researchers for mishandling sensitive information. - **Sponsor Tools**: Blacksmith CI runner replacement and Codesmith, an autonomous GitHub agent offering 3,000 free minutes for evaluation.

## Notable quotes > [03:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw&t=212s) The charge is wiretapping, which only requires proving he secretly recorded people and not espionage, which would require proving he did it for a foreign government. — Jeff Delaney

## Mentioned Abdul Raman Alphazan, Blacksmith, Codesmith, FBI, Fireship, GitHub Actions, GPT-4o, Jeff Delaney, Léon Theremin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Meta, Metal Gear Solid, OpenAI, Prince Khaled bin Bader Al-Saud, R3D Ventures, Scott Stedman, Seeed Studio, The Thing, UC Berkeley

## Video description Run GitHub Actions 2x faster and build with Codesmith at https://www.blacksmith.sh/

An OpenAI engineer built a wiretap with his wife’s ChatGPT account, hid it in toilet paper behind the executive boardroom TV, and lasted 48 hours before getting caught. Let's dive in.

Want more Fireship?

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[Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZVzuq28eFw)

中文简报

OpenAI工程师涉嫌自制窃听器窃听董事会会议室，遭FBI逮捕一名OpenAI工程主管因涉嫌窃听公司高管会议室被联邦当局抓获；此前他曾使用妻子的ChatGPT账户协助制作该设备，并将硬件地址直接粘贴到了模型中。 OpenAI Agents平台主管Abdul Raman Alphazan因在OpenAI高管会议室安装隐蔽窃听设备，被FBI逮捕并受到联邦窃听罪名指控。Alphazan利用内部Agent程序摸排高管日程，并通过其妻子的ChatGPT账户设计了一套成本为23美元的微控制器录音装置，随后用卫生间卷纸进行伪装，并插入董事会会议室电视机的USB端口。仅两天后，该设备便在一次例行排查中被发现；OpenAI在其妻子的ChatGPT排错日志中找到了该开发板的MAC地址，并通过隐蔽监控摄像头拍到了他的行踪，从而锁定了其身份。尽管Alphazan目前受到的正式指控是窃听罪而非间谍罪，但在OpenAI面临日益严密审查之际，他与一名家族关联沙特情报部门的沙特王子的风险投资关系，引发了外界对外国间谍监视活动的怀疑。 FBI逮捕了OpenAI Agents平台的工程主管Abdul Raman Alphazan，指控其在高管会议室的电视机后方安装实体窃听设备。 (0:00) Alphazan使用其妻子的ChatGPT账户设计了该窃听器，用一块售价23美元且包裹着卫生纸的微控制器进行组装，在48小时内的一次例行反窃听排查中被发现。 (1:00) 调查人员在其妻子ChatGPT的排错日志中发现了粘贴在内的MAC地址，从而将该硬件直接与Alphazan关联起来。 (2:30) 尽管仅被指控犯有联邦窃听罪，但Alphazan在利雅得与Khaled bin Bader Al-Saud王子共同持有的风险投资关系引发了外国间谍担忧，后者的父亲是一名沙特高级情报官员。 (3:32)

Reading summary

Federal authorities arrested an OpenAI engineering lead after he planted a crude, DIY listening device inside the company's executive conference room. Host Jeff Delaney details how an operation executed with consumer hardware and company AI tools was swiftly dismantled by internal security within 48 hours. An Improvised Bug Inside Executive Headquarters (0:00) Abdul Raman Alphazan, a 35-year-old Saudi national, lawful US permanent resident, and engineering lead on OpenAI's Agents platform since July 2025, was arrested on federal wiretapping charges. Despite holding credentials from UC Berkeley, MIT, and Meta, Alphazan executed a low-tech covert operation. He queried an internal AI agent to scrape floor plans, meeting room capacities, and executive visitor schedules, and then consulted his wife's ChatGPT account to design a Wi-Fi-enabled recording rig. Flawed Tradecraft and Rapid Forensic Detection (2:15) Alphazan built the bug using a $23 Seeed Studio microcontroller board, an encrypted SD card, and a $0.50 antenna, camouflaging it by wrapping it in restroom toilet paper before plugging it into a television USB port in the executive conference room on September 28. In contrast to historical surveillance tools like Léon Theremin's 1945 passive resonator "The Thing"—which evaded detection in the US Moscow embassy for seven years—Alphazan's active rig was uncovered within 48 hours during a routine sweep by OpenAI's Technical Surveillance Countermeasures team. Digital Footprints and the Trap (2:15) While OpenAI publicly highlighted the role of its internal AI models in cracking the case, Delaney notes the forensics relied on basic digital oversights: Alphazan had pasted the hardware board's unique MAC address into his wife's ChatGPT account while troubleshooting two days before the device was found. Furthermore, building surveillance showed him lingering outside the boardroom on six occasions. Security staff set a hidden camera behind the television monitor, capturing him inspecting the device on October 5, which led to his termination and FBI arrest on October 9. Venture Ties, Intelligence Links, and Internal Turmoil (3:32) Alphazan faces one count of federal wiretapping rather than formal espionage charges, as prosecutors need only prove unauthorized recording rather than foreign direction. However, external connections have drawn attention: Alphazan is listed as an investor at Riyadh-based R3D Ventures alongside Prince Khaled bin Bader Al-Saud, whose father is a senior Saudi intelligence official, according to reporter Scott Stedman. The incident compounds recent turbulence at OpenAI, following the cancellation of an unreleased model flagged for deceptive behavior and the dismissal of three researchers over internal data mishandling. While federal charges remain limited to wiretapping carrying up to five years in prison, Alphazan's venture ties to figures linked to Saudi intelligence leave unresolved questions regarding whether the eavesdropping was an act of personal curiosity, commercial theft, or state-aligned espionage.

精炼阅读摘要

根据 Fireship 节目报道，OpenAI 智能体平台工程主管 Abdul Raman Alphazan 因涉嫌在公司高管会议室安装自制窃听设备被联邦调查局逮捕，面临联邦窃听罪指控。尽管该案未直接定性为间谍罪，但其拙劣的技术手段以及嫌疑人与沙特王室投资机构的关联，引发了外界对技术泄漏与海外情报渗透的广泛关注。业余的窃听装置与粗糙伪装 (0:00) 涉案工程师 Abdul Raman Alphazan 拥有加州大学伯克利分校与麻省理工学院的高学历背景，曾任职于 Meta，于2025年7月加入 OpenAI 担任智能体平台工程负责人。然而，根据刑事诉状指控，其窃听行动在技术手段上表现得极其业余。在实施窃听前，他首先利用公司内部的 AI 智能体抓取了总部会议室的日程、高管简报安排以及外部高层访客的具体日期等敏感数据。利用 ChatGPT 组装并暴露电子痕迹 (0:00) 在2025年9月24日至30日期间，Alphazan 使用其妻子的 ChatGPT 账号作为技术指导，询问如何组装带有加密 SD 卡并支持 Wi-Fi 的录音装置。根据模型建议，他采购了一块价值23美元的 Seeed Studio 微控制器板及价值0.50美元的外置天线。为了掩人耳目，他竟在公司洗手间取下单层卫生纸包裹电路板作为伪装，并于9月28日将其插入高管会议室电视屏幕背后的 USB 接口取电。 48小时败露与反窃听溯源 (2:15) 节目主持人 Jeff Delaney 将该装置与苏联发明家 Léon Theremin 于1945年研制的“金唇”（The Thing）被动共振窃听器进行了对比。后者无需内置电源，在莫斯科美国大使办公室隐藏了长达7年之久；而 Alphazan 制造的单层卫生纸包裹装置在插入电视仅48小时后，便在 OpenAI 技术反窃听监控（TSCM）团队的例行排查中被当场起获。数字与物理监控双重锁定嫌疑人 (2:15) 尽管 OpenAI 公开宣称利用内部 AI 模型分析了该设备并查明来源，但调查的关键技术线索实际上十分直接：该微控制器主板的 MAC 地址被发现曾在两天前直接输入到其妻子的 ChatGPT 对话中进行故障排查。此外，安保监控显示 Alphazan 曾先后6次在该会议室外可疑徘徊。安保团队在电视后方加装了针孔摄像头，并在10月5日拍摄到其返回检查装置的画面。10月9日，OpenAI 将其正式解雇，联邦执法部门随即将其逮捕。海外背景疑云与企业安全连锁反应 (3:32) 目前 Alphazan 面临一项涉嫌违反美国法典第18编第2511条的联邦窃听罪指控。Delaney 指出，窃听罪只需证明其实施了秘密录音，而无需达到间谍罪证明其服务于外国政府的法定证明标准。然而，公开信息显示 Alphazan 还是利雅得风投机构 R3D Ventures 的投资人，并与沙特王子 Khaled bin Bader Al-Saud 并列出现在团队名单中，而该王子的父亲系沙特情报部门高官。这起丑闻发生前，OpenAI 刚因某未发布模型表现出过高欺骗性而将其废弃，并以不当处理敏感内部数据为由解雇了三名 AI 安全研究员，使公司安全治理再度面临严峻质询。本案目前仅停留在联邦窃听指控层面，Alphazan 收集机密录音的真实终极意图及其海外关联机构是否直接指使，仍有待司法程序的进一步审理与披露。

Source quotes

[3:32] Jeff Delaney: The charge is wiretapping, which only requires proving he secretly recorded people and not espionage, which would require proving he did it for a foreign government.

Original transcript

[0:00] Yesterday, the FBI announced the arrest [0:02] of the lead engineer of OpenAI's Agents [0:05] platform after he bugged the executive [0:07] conference room at their HQ. A story I [0:09] feel uniquely qualified to cover, having [0:11] spent over 300 hours hiding inside a [0:13] cardboard box in Metal Gear Solid. And [0:15] it turns out that that may be more [0:16] spycraft training than the suspect had [0:18] because despite going to Berkeley, MIT, [0:20] and previously working at Meta, the guy [0:22] who got arrested seems like an absolute [0:24] The bug he planted was only in [0:26] place for about 48 hours before OpenAI [0:29] found it. and the trail he left behind [0:30] was so obvious that even Gemini could [0:32] have followed it. In today's video, [0:33] we'll walk through the criminal [0:34] complaint to find out how a guy who [0:36] builds agents for a living got caught by [0:38] one and speculate who, if anyone he was [0:41] actually working for. It is October [0:42] 14th, 2026, and you're watching the code [0:45] report. The man of the hour is Abdul [0:47] Raman Alphazan, a 35-year-old Saudi [0:50] national and US permanent resident who [0:52] joined OpenAI in July of 2025 as an [0:55] engineering lead on the product team. [0:56] Just a few weeks ago, he was being [0:58] celebrated as the only Saudi employee at [1:00] OpenAI, where he said one year at the [1:02] company felt like 5 years anywhere else. [1:04] Which is fitting because 5 years also [1:06] happens to be the maximum amount of time [1:08] he'll have to keep his cheeks puckered [1:10] based on the crimes he's being charged [1:11] with. According to prosecutors, [1:13] Alphazan's operation started about a [1:15] month ago when he used an internal agent [1:17] to look up OpenAI meeting rooms along [1:19] with room capacities, room calendars, [1:21] and specifically where leadership and [1:23] executive meetings happen and when [1:25] outside partners are expected to come [1:26] in. Then between September 24th and [1:29] September 30th, he used his wife's chat [1:31] GPT account to figure out how to [1:33] jerryrig a Wi-Fi enabled audio recording [1:35] device with an encrypted SD card. the [1:37] model, which I assume was GPT40, but [1:39] because there's no way his wife was [1:41] getting any emotional affection from [1:42] this idiot, walked him through how to [1:44] make it. And based on the photos and the [1:45] complaint, what he ended up with was a [1:47] $23 Seed Studio microcontroller with a [1:50] 50 cent antenna. And unfortunately for [1:52] Abdul Raman, the device looks like the [1:54] exact thing you would use to spy on [1:56] someone. So to help with that, he went [1:58] to the bathroom, grabbed some toilet [2:00] paper, and wrapped it around the [2:01] microcontroller to conceal it. Then on [2:03] September 28th, he allegedly committed [2:05] the perfect crime when he took the $23 [2:07] spy device, wrapped it in single ply [2:09] OpenAI toilet paper and plugged it into [2:12] the USB port on the back of the TV in [2:14] the executive conference room. Now, if [2:16] you don't have the study historical spy [2:18] techch for fun form of autism, the gold [2:20] standard here is a device called the [2:21] Thing, which Russian Leon Theramin built [2:24] for the Soviets in 1945 that had no [2:26] battery and no active components and [2:28] only came alive when the Soviets pointed [2:30] a radio beam at it from a van across the [2:32] street, which made it almost impossible [2:34] to detect. They hid it inside a carved [2:36] wooden seal that Soviet school children [2:38] gifted to the US ambassador in Moscow as [2:41] a token of friendship, and it hung on [2:42] the wall inside of his office, listening [2:44] to four different ambassadors for seven [2:46] years before anyone found it. Abdul [2:48] Raman's toilet paper bug lasted 2 days [2:50] when OpenAI's technical surveillance [2:52] countermeasures team found it during a [2:54] routine sweep. From there, OpenAI says [2:56] they used their models to understand the [2:58] device and where it came from, which [3:00] sounds impressive until you remember the [3:01] board has a MAC address. And two days [3:03] earlier, Abdul Raman's wife's account [3:06] had pasted the exact same one into [3:07] chatbt. If that wasn't enough evidence, [3:10] they also found security footage showing [3:12] Abdul Raman hanging out near the [3:13] executive room on six separate days. And [3:16] just to be sure, they quietly installed [3:17] a camera behind the executive room TV [3:19] and waited for him to return. And on [3:21] October 5th, he was back. 4 days later, [3:24] he was fired and arrested on the same [3:26] afternoon and charged with one count of [3:28] federal wiretapping and one count of [3:30] being the dumbest person who ever [3:31] attended MIT. Now, the one thing the [3:33] complaint never says is who any of this [3:35] was for. The charge is wiretapping, [3:37] which only requires proving he secretly [3:39] recorded people and not espionage, which [3:41] would require proving he did it for a [3:43] foreign government. But his bio does [3:45] have him as an investor at RED Ventures, [3:48] a VC firm in Riyad, where he sits on the [3:50] team page right next to his highness, [3:52] Prince Khaled bin Bader Al-Sad, and [3:54] investigative journalist Scott Steedman [3:56] pointed out that the prince's father is [3:58] a senior Saudi intelligence official. [4:00] Either way, it's another rough look for [4:01] a company that within the last few weeks [4:03] has scrapped its newest model for being [4:05] too deceptive and fired three safety [4:07] researchers for mishandling sensitive [4:09] information. And if you're also having a [4:11] rough time lately, at least your builds [4:13] can be fast with Blacksmith, the sponsor [4:15] of today's video. It's a drop-in [4:16] replacement for GitHub runners that lets [4:18] you run your GitHub actions twice as [4:20] fast while costing 75% less. And they [4:23] just launched Codesmith, a cloud coding [4:25] agent that knows your repos and CI runs. [4:28] So you can just ask it to build [4:29] something from GitHub, the web, or [4:31] Slack, like I'm doing here. I'm asking [4:33] it to add a new AI provider to my app [4:36] and wire up the API key in my [4:38] infrastructure repo. And it can open a [4:40] PR in each one, then fix failing tests [4:42] or address review comments without me [4:44] relaying messages between bots. You can [4:46] also ask it to recommend better runner [4:48] sizes from your CI history and turn [4:51] those changes into a PR. This you're not [4:53] just renting a supercomputer to check [4:54] your semicolons, but try it out for free [4:56] and get 3,000 GitHub actions minutes at [4:59] the link below. This has been the Code [5:01] Report. Thanks for watching and I will [5:02] see you in the next one.