Matt Cobo, F.B.I. San Francisco Performing Particular Agent in Cost ( proper) speaks subsequent to San Francisco Police Chief Derrick Lew (second from proper) and San Francisco District Lawyer Brooke Jenkins (third from proper) throughout a information convention Monday, April 13, 2026, in San Francisco.
Jeff Chiu/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Jeff Chiu/AP
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The person accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s house had written about AI’s purported danger to humanity and traveled from Texas to San Francisco aspiring to kill Altman, authorities stated Monday.
Authorities allege 20-year-old Daniel Moreno-Gama threw the incendiary machine about 4 a.m. Friday, setting an exterior gate at Altman’s house alight earlier than fleeing on foot, police stated. Lower than an hour later, Moreno-Gama allegedly went to OpenAI’s headquarters about 3 miles (4.83 kilometers) away and threatened to burn down the constructing.
Moreno-Gama is against synthetic intelligence, writing about AI’s purported danger to humanity and “our impending extinction,” in response to a federal prison grievance.
“This was not spontaneous. This was deliberate, focused and intensely critical,” stated FBI San Francisco Performing Particular Agent in Cost Matt Cobo throughout a press convention.
Nobody was injured at Altman’s house or the corporate workplaces, authorities stated.
Moreno-Gama faces state and federal prices
Moreno-Gama faces prices together with two counts of tried homicide and tried arson in California state court docket, San Francisco District Lawyer Brooke Jenkins. He tried to kill each Altman and a safety guard at Altman’s residence, she alleged. He’s set to look in court docket Tuesday, and on-line state court docket data don’t but present if he has an legal professional.
Jenkins stated the state prices carry penalties starting from 19 years to life in jail.
On Monday morning, FBI brokers went to Moreno-Gama’s house in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, the place they spent a number of hours earlier than leaving. He has been charged by federal prosecutors with possession of an unregistered firearm and injury and destruction of property by the use of explosives. These prices carry respective penalties of as much as 10 years and 20 years in jail.
The federal court docket paperwork don’t checklist an legal professional for Moreno-Gama, and he has not but had his first look in federal court docket.
Authorities allege Moreno-Gama traveled from his house in Texas to San Francisco and visited Altman’s house early Friday morning.
Authorities say Moreno-Gama was against synthetic intelligence
When Moreno-Gama was arrested Friday, officers discovered a doc on him through which he “recognized views against Synthetic Intelligence (AI) and the executives of assorted AI firms,” court docket paperwork say. The doc mentioned AI’s purported danger to humanity and “our impending extinction,” in response to the prison grievance.
Surveillance video photos included within the prison grievance present an individual wearing a darkish hoodie and pants that the FBI alleges is Moreno-Gama approaching the driveway of Altman’s house. In varied photos, the particular person may be seen tossing the Molotov cocktail, which landed on the prime of a metallic gate and began a small hearth.
Surveillance video photos from exterior OpenAI’s headquarters allegedly present Moreno-Gama grabbing a chair and utilizing it to hit a set of glass doorways. Authorities stated Moreno-Gama was approached by the constructing’s safety personnel, who informed investigators he “acknowledged in sum and substance” that he got here to the headquarters “to burn it down and kill anybody inside,” in response to the grievance.
San Francisco police arrested Moreno-Gama and recovered “incendiary units, a jug of kerosene, a blue lighter, and a doc.” Moreno-Gama was being held Monday within the San Francisco County Jail on the state prices, and was anticipated to look in court docket on Tuesday.
U.S. Lawyer Craig Missakian stated authorities “will deal with this as an act of home terrorism, and along with our companions, prosecute him to the fullest extent of the legislation.”
Authorities say Moreno-Gama’s anti-AI doc contained threats towards Altman
The doc through which Moreno-Gama mentioned his opposition to AI additionally made threats towards Altman, officers stated.
“Additionally if I’m going to advocate for others to kill and commit crimes, then I have to lead by instance and present that I’m totally honest in my message,” Moreno-Gama is alleged by authorities to have written within the doc.
Advocacy teams which have issued grave warnings about AI’s dangers to society condemned the violence.
Anthony Aguirre, president and CEO of the Way forward for Life Institute, stated in a written assertion Friday that “violence and intimidation of any variety don’t have any place within the dialog about the way forward for AI.”
One other group, PauseAI, stated in a press release that the suspect had no function within the group however joined its discussion board on the social media platform Discord about two years in the past and posted about 34 messages there, none containing specific calls to violence however one which was flagged as “ambiguous.”
Discord stated Monday that it has banned Moreno-Gama for “off-platform conduct.”
Altman addressed the threats in a weblog submit
Hours after the assault on his home, Altman posted a photograph of his husband and their toddler in a weblog submit addressing the threats towards him.
“Usually we attempt to be fairly non-public, however on this case I’m sharing a photograph within the hopes that it’d dissuade the following particular person from throwing a Molotov cocktail at our home, it doesn’t matter what they consider me,” Altman wrote.
He added that “concern and nervousness about AI is justified” but it surely was essential to “de-escalate the rhetoric and ways and attempt to have fewer explosions in fewer properties, figuratively and actually.”
Altman has develop into a preeminent voice in Silicon Valley on the promise and potential risks of synthetic intelligence. The assault comes days after The New Yorker printed an in-depth investigation that touched on issues some individuals have about him and the corporate.
Debate concerning the affect of AI is rising
The assault got here at a time of rising debate concerning the societal results of AI assistants like OpenAI’s ChatGPT that thousands and thousands of individuals are turning to for info, recommendation, writing assist and to do work on their behalf.
An annual report printed Monday by Stanford College referred to as the AI index discovered that most individuals imagine AI’s advantages outweigh its drawbacks, “however nervousness is rising and belief in establishments to handle the know-how stays uneven.”
