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 residence of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s residence final week was making an attempt 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 also be going through federal fees, together with tried harm and destruction of property by the use of explosives and possession of an unregistered firearm, in accordance with a launch from the Division of Justice.
“The costs introduced at the moment replicate a deeply regarding escalation from intent to motion concentrating on a personal residence and a expertise firm with violence,” FBI Appearing Particular Agent in Cost Matt Cobo mentioned in an announcement.
In a press convention on Monday, Cobo mentioned, “This was not spontaneous. This was deliberate, focused and intensely severe.”
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, in accordance with a grievance filed in San Francisco federal court docket on Monday. Moreno-Gama expressed his goal to kill Altman and warned of humanity’s “impending extinction” from AI.
Altman will not be immediately named within the submitting, but it surely 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 “said he ‘killed /tried to kill’ Sufferer-1.” He additionally listed the names and addresses of a number of extra AI executives, board members and buyers, 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 accordance with the submitting. Moreno-Gama closed the doc by writing a letter on to Altman, in accordance 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 performed an operation in Texas that was associated to the assault on Altman’s residence.
Daniel Moreno-Gama
Supply: Northern District of California.
On Friday, Moreno-Gama threw “a lit Molotov cocktail-style incendiary system at” Atlman’s residence at roughly 3:37 a.m., the grievance mentioned. The system brought on a hearth on the prime of the driveway gate, however no accidents had been reported and Moreno-Gama fled.
The suspect arrived at OpenAI’s headquarters at round 5:00 a.m., threw a chair towards the glass doorways and threatened to “to burn it down and kill anybody inside,” in accordance with the submitting. Officers responded to the scene and Moreno-Gama was arrested.
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the assault in an announcement on Friday and mentioned, “Fortunately, nobody was harm.”
“We deeply recognize how rapidly SFPD responded and the help from town in serving to hold our workers secure,” OpenAI mentioned in its assertion. “The person is in custody, and we’re aiding 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 facility of phrases and narratives.” He mentioned it has been an “extraordinarily intense, chaotic, and high-pressure few years,” and he known as for firming down the “the rhetoric and techniques” inside the AI trade.
Altman’s residence was the obvious topic of a second assault involving gunfire on Sunday. Two people had been arrested.
