OpenAI said Tuesday that the FBI arrested one of its employees after the company used its own models to investigate a hidden recording device discovered inside one of its offices.

The ChatGPT maker said its models helped investigators understand the device, trace its origins and identify an employee suspected of planting it several days earlier. The company subsequently terminated the employee and referred the case to federal authorities.

The FBI investigation remains ongoing. OpenAI has not disclosed the employee’s identity, the office where the device was found or the type of recording equipment involved.

The company also did not explain which models it used or how they helped establish the device’s origins. It remains unclear whether the models analyzed images, technical components, records or other evidence.

In a statement posted on X, OpenAI said it discovered a sophisticated recording device concealed in one of its offices and used its models to investigate the incident.

“We used our models to understand the device and where it had come from, identifying that a specific employee had planted it a few days earlier,” the company said.

OpenAI said it then contacted the FBI, whose agents and prosecutors moved to make an arrest. The company said it would continue cooperating with the investigation.

The company has not released technical details showing how the models reached their findings or how investigators verified the results. Consequently, the announcement does not establish how much of the investigation was conducted using automated analysis rather than conventional security methods.

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