Silicon Valley’s top AI workers are being told to hide any company logos in public as working for the hottest companies marks them as targets for spies and angry protesters.
OpenAI tells staff not to wear anything bearing its logo outside their offices and trains them to watch for spies offering cash, friendship or romance.
Anthropic — which has just filed for what analysts are predicting will be a record-busting Initial Public Offering on the stock market — has all but banned branded merch, reminds employees to conceal their badges when leaving the premises and has reported people trying to photograph its offices.
“I strongly support this approach,” Miao Hong, managing partner of Silicon Valley Future Capital and investor in OpenAI and Anthropic, told the Post.
Hong said he sees AI employees approached again-and-again by people hunting for inside information — and he doesn’t know their intentions.
“Everyone wants to find out about developments and information at the cutting edge of technology. They want firsthand information. They want to talk to these employees, but the employees generally avoid discussing anything,” he told The Post.
The father of one Anthropic employee says his son and his colleagues steer clear of shop talk after work.
“I also pay attention to safety and remind my child to be careful, because he can easily become a target. They try not to talk about their work at all. They keep it more about sports, hobbies, hiking and food,” the father, who asked not to be named, told the Post.
Espionage tops the list of fears.
OpenAI’s security sessions warn AI rivals or spies working for rogue nations use techniques ranging from something as simple as eavesdropping in cafes to bribes, or even using romance.
In one example, a stranger made small talk with an OpenAI employee at a San Francisco playground, but then steering the conversation to the employee’s work. That person was a spy, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Employees are also reminded to use privacy screens on public transit and to wipe meeting-room whiteboards when they leave.
Bringing into focus the kind of threats faced, Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national who worked as an engineer at OpenAI was arrested Oct. 9 and charged with trying to intercept private conversations.
He had hidden a recording device wrapped in toilet paper behind a TV in an executive conference room, according to the federal complaint against him. OpenAI fired him and he is currently in jail while awaiting his case, as he is deemed a flight risk. He has yet to enter a plea.
Executive-focused espionage often begins with social engineering, San Jose-based JPT Security notes, claiming bad actors “manufacture reasons to get close to a senior leader, their staff, or their family members.”
With a sometimes controversial industry like AI, encounters can sometimes be hostile.
Passersby stop daily outside the 24-hour San Francisco cafe run by AI insurance startup Corgi where they shout and curse, CEO Nico Laqua told WSJ in July. Some blame AI for rising rents and water use in the area, he said.
In March, activists chalked the sidewalk outside OpenAI’s San Francisco offices urging employees to quit over the company striking a defense deal with the Pentagon. Messages included “Is it time to quit?” and “Will you spy on your neighbors?”
CEO Sam Altman’s home in the city was also targeted twice in separate incidents in April 2026. One suspect threw a Molotov cocktail at his home then threatened to burn down the OpenAI HQ. Two days later two other suspects fired a shot outside his house. All three were arrested, charged and are awaiting trial. They have all pleaded not guilty.
Meanwhile, the father of the Anthropic worker says his son has trouble figuring out who he can trust because of his status.
“Whether you’re going to a party, looking for a partner or making friends, people focus on your company and your wealth,” he said.
“They overlook your character and your values.”
