Belgium

Brussels, October 14, 2026. The Belgian press, including La Libre Belgique, La Dernière Heure, and VRT, reports the arrest on Friday, October 9, of Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi engineer at OpenAI, accused of hiding a "clandestine recording device" in a meeting room at the company's headquarters in San Francisco. He appeared before a federal judge on Tuesday, October 13, for "interception of communications," a crime punishable by up to five years in prison, the US Department of Justice announced.

The Belgian coverage relies heavily on the complaint. VRT provides the most detailed account: the device, discovered on September 30, was plugged into a USB port on the back of a television and hidden in toilet paper; it had been placed two days earlier and its contents were encrypted. A second similar device was found in a bag left by the engineer at the office. The room was used for confidential discussions on research, product plans, business relationships, and contacts with authorities.

The Flemish channel adds that the engineer was not authorized to enter the room, but that cameras had filmed him near the area on several occasions. Between September 24 and 30, a chatbot linked to his wife had received questions about manufacturing a device capable of continuous recording, live listening, and encrypting a memory card. A new hearing, focused on his detention, is scheduled for October 19.

The Francophone titles emphasize the political aspect. They quote Jay Clayton, director of American intelligence, recently appointed to head the White House's AI task force, the "Super Intelligence Force": the case "shows why winning the global super-intelligence race is a national security imperative." He added that American intelligence remains mobilized against "foreign threats," without identifying a sponsor.

On the corporate side, OpenAI, which reported the employee to the FBI, indicated that it had "no indication" of inappropriate access to model weights, source code, or customer data. The engineer, who joined the product team in July 2025, was fired on the day of his arrest.

In the Belgian articles, the case remains a judicial file with unknown motivations: neither motive nor potential sponsor appears, and the Saudi dimension is not commented on beyond the suspect's nationality.