India, Oct. 20 -- A former OpenAI engineer, accused of planting a bug in its San Francisco office, reportedly had a contact close to the royal family in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi national Abdulrahman Alfozan was arrested earlier this month and he has been accused of tapping artificial intelligence tools to help him develop encrypted recording devices and identify meeting rooms used by OpenAI executives, government officials and business partners.

According to the 11-page filing by the US Justice Department accessed by CBS News, the former OpenAI employee had engaged in WhatsApp messages with an unidentified Saudi royal, who was encouraging him to leave the US and join the kingdom's AI initiative instead.

"Saudi needs you more than [sic] the ...