Workers at OpenAI, Anthropic made to ditch company logos as it makes them targets for spies, seduction | Latest Tech News
Silicon Valley’s top AI employees are being told to conceal any company logos in public as working for the most popular firms marks them as targets for spies and indignant protesters.
OpenAI tells employees not to put on something bearing its brand outdoors their workplaces and trains them to watch for spies offering money, friendship or romance.
Anthropic — which has just filed for what analysts are predicting might be a record-busting Initial Public Offering on the stock market — has all but banned branded merch, reminds workers to conceal their badges when leaving the premises and has reported people attempting to {photograph} its workplaces.
Attendees at OpenAI’s DevDay 2026 in San Francisco. Staff are told to depart the emblem at work. AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
“I strongly support this approach,” Miao Hong, managing companion of Silicon Valley Future Capital and investor in OpenAI and Anthropic, told the Post.
Hong said he sees AI workers approached again-and-again by people looking for inside data — 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.
Miao Hong, managing companion of Silicon Valley Future Capital and an investor in OpenAI and Anthropic, backs AI firms telling employees to conceal their logos in public. Courtesy of Hong Miao
The father of one Anthropic worker says his son and his colleagues steer clear of store discuss 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 daddy, who requested not to be named, told the Post.
Espionage tops the record of fears.
OpenAI’s security periods warn AI rivals or spies working for rogue nations use techniques ranging from one thing as simple as eavesdropping in cafes to bribes, or even utilizing romance.
A ChatGPT hat on show at an OpenAI builders convention at Fort Mason in San Francisco on Sept. 29, 2026. The company sells its branded merch to the public, even as it tells employees not to put on the emblem outdoors the workplace. Getty Images
Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national who labored as an OpenAI engineer, was arrested Oct. 9 and charged with planting a recording machine in an government convention room at the company’s San Francisco workplaces, prosecutors say. X/@alfozan
In one instance, a stranger made small discuss with an OpenAI worker at a San Francisco playground, but then steering the dialog to the worker’s work. That individual was a spy, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Employees are also reminded to use privateness screens on public transit and to wipe meeting-room whiteboards when they depart.
Bringing into focus the sort of threats confronted, Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national who labored as an engineer at OpenAI was arrested Oct. 9 and charged with attempting to intercept personal conversations.
He had hidden a recording machine wrapped in toilet paper behind a TV in an government convention room, according to the federal criticism against him. OpenAI fired him and he’s presently in jail while awaiting his case, as he’s deemed a flight risk. He has yet to enter a plea.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, left, with Salesforce’s Marc Benioff at Dreamforce in San Francisco on Sept. 15. His company retains its brand off its workers. Getty Images
Corgi co-founders Nico Laqua, CEO, and Emily Yuan, COO at a company launch. Laqua says passersby stop daily outdoors the startup’s 24-hour San Francisco cafe to shout and curse about AI. Corgi
Executive-focused espionage often begins with social engineering, San Jose-based JPT Security notes, claiming unhealthy 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 outdoors the 24-hour San Francisco cafe run by AI insurance coverage 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 realm, he said.
A protester holds an anti-AI signal outdoors an OpenAI workplace in Manhattan’s SoHo on Oct. 20, 2026, during “Freeze AI,” a nationwide day of walkouts organized by the advocacy group Irreplaceable calling for a pause on AI development. AI employees more and more face anger in public. Getty Images
A person wears a jacket branded with Claude Code, Anthropic’s AI coding software. Fans show off AI company swag, while Anthropic has all but banned branded merch for its own employees. Bloomberg via Getty Images
In March, activists chalked the sidewalk outdoors OpenAI’s San Francisco workplaces urging workers to give up over the company hanging a protection 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 town was also focused 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 outdoors his home. All three had been arrested, charged and are awaiting trial. They have all pleaded not guilty.
Anthropic disclosed in their IPO submitting with the Securities and Exchange commission that it spent $2.7 million in “personal security services” for its CEO, Daroi Amodei.
Meanwhile, the daddy of the Anthropic employee says his son has hassle determining who he can trust because of his standing.
“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.”
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