San Francisco police have arrested a 20-year-old man who, according to preliminary information, threw a Molotov cocktail at the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
San Francisco police have arrested a 20-year-old man who, according to preliminary information, threw a Molotov cocktail at the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
The San Francisco Police Department said that at approximately 7:12 a.m. Eastern Time (4:12 a.m. local time), officers responded to a call to investigate a fire in the North Beach neighborhood. «At the scene, officers learned that an unknown male had thrown an incendiary device toward a private residence, causing the exterior gate to catch fire,» the statement said, Engadget reports .
After the attacker fled the scene, police tracked him down and arrested him about an hour later. This happened while responding to another call — from a commercial establishment where an unknown man was threatening to burn down the building. As it turned out, that establishment was OpenAI headquarters, and the arrested man turned out to be the same man who threw the Molotov cocktail at Altman’s house.
«Early this morning, an unknown person threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s home and made threats against our San Francisco headquarters. Fortunately, no one was injured,» an OpenAI spokesperson confirmed. «We are deeply grateful to the San Francisco Police Department for their swift response and to the city government for their support in keeping our employees safe. The attacker is in custody, and we are fully cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation.»
As artificial intelligence becomes more commonplace, it is increasingly divisive in society. While the number of users of AI tools continues to grow, public reaction to the technology’s expansion—whether in gaming or the service industry—has become increasingly negative. Altman’s warnings about AI’s impact on the job market, as well as a recent investigation by The New Yorker into his allegedly manipulative management style at OpenAI, have raised questions about the CEO’s leadership role as the technology’s chief steward.
