OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attends an occasion to pitch AI for companies in Tokyo, Feb. 3, 2025.
Kim Kyung-hoon | Reuters
A person accused of throwing a lit Molotov cocktail on the house of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s house final week was attempting to kill him, and was motivated by hatred of synthetic intelligence expertise, prosecutors mentioned Monday.
The suspect, Daniel Moreno-Gama, is being charged with tried homicide within the case, the San Francisco District Legal professional mentioned on Monday. Moreno-Gama can be dealing with federal expenses, together with tried harm and destruction of property by way of explosives and possession of an unregistered firearm, in keeping with a release from the Division of Justice.
“The fees introduced immediately replicate a deeply regarding escalation from intent to motion focusing on a personal residence and a expertise firm with violence,” FBI Performing Particular Agent in Cost Matt Cobo mentioned in a press release.
In a press convention on Monday, Cobo mentioned, “This was not spontaneous. This was deliberate, focused and intensely critical.”
After Moreno-Gama was arrested following his assault on Friday, San Francisco Police Division officers recovered a doc in his possession that detailed his intentions, according to a complaint filed in San Francisco federal court docket on Monday. Moreno-Gama expressed his intention to kill Altman and warned of humanity’s “impending extinction” from AI.
Altman just isn’t immediately named within the submitting, nevertheless it describes “Sufferer-1” because the chief government of “a analysis firm that deploys and develops synthetic intelligence (AI) and operates in interstate and overseas commerce.”
Within the first part of the doc, titled “Your Final Warning,” Moreno-Gama “acknowledged he ‘killed /tried to kill’ Sufferer-1.” He additionally listed the names and addresses of a number of further AI executives, board members and traders, the grievance mentioned.
The second part of the doc explored the purported dangers that AI poses to humanity, and was titled “some extra phrases on the matter of our impending extinction,” in keeping with the submitting. Moreno-Gama closed the doc by writing a letter on to Altman, in keeping with the submitting, stating that, “if by some miracle you reside, then I might take this as an indication from the divine to redeem your self.”
FBI Director Kash Patel mentioned Monday that the company and its companions conducted an operation in Texas that was associated to the assault on Altman’s house.
Daniel Moreno-Gama
Supply: Northern District of California.
On Friday, Moreno-Gama threw “a lit Molotov cocktail-style incendiary gadget at” Atlman’s house at roughly 3:37 a.m., the grievance mentioned. The gadget precipitated a hearth on the high of the driveway gate, however no accidents have been reported and Moreno-Gama fled.
The suspect arrived at OpenAI’s headquarters at round 5:00 a.m., threw a chair in opposition to the glass doorways and threatened to “to burn it down and kill anybody inside,” in keeping with the submitting. Officers responded to the scene and Moreno-Gama was arrested.
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the assault in a press release on Friday and mentioned, “Fortunately, nobody was harm.”
“We deeply recognize how rapidly SFPD responded and the help from town in serving to maintain our staff secure,” OpenAI mentioned in its assertion. “The person is in custody, and we’re helping legislation enforcement with their investigation.”
On his private weblog on Friday, Altman addressed the assault and shared a photograph of his household, writing that he “underestimated the ability of phrases and narratives.” He mentioned it has been an “extraordinarily intense, chaotic, and high-pressure few years,” and he referred to as for firming down the “the rhetoric and ways” throughout the AI business.
Altman’s house was the obvious topic of a second assault involving gunfire on Sunday. Two people have been arrested.
