OpenAI said on Tuesday that it had discovered a hidden recording device in one of its offices and traced it to an employee, an episode that underscores the potential reality of corporate espionage at frontier A.I. labs. The engineer, 35, is a Saudi national, according to the Justice Department. He worked on OpenAI's agent software and previously worked at Meta, according to a LinkedIn profile that appears to be his. He was also a part-time partner at a Saudi-based venture capital firm. He could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, followed by three years of supervised release if convicted.
Others have been charged with spying on tech companies before, including former employees of Twitter and Apple. Washington and Silicon Valley already view the U.S. lead in A.I. as a top national security issue, and competition among labs is fierce. Espionage is only the latest safety and security issue these labs are confronting. OpenAI has acknowledged several instances of its software going rogue, with agents hacking companies and meddling with government websites. It was also criticized after it fired three safety researchers for sharing sensitive information with what they said was a third-party A.I. safety group.
This week, Anthropic warned of a different threat: that its models could be months away from self-replicating and possibly hacking smart home devices. Safety is also a consideration for potential investors in the companies' planned I.P.O.s. The topic may come up on Wednesday when Anthropic hosts an investor day for its planned stock sale.
Source: New York Times Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing