San Francisco (United States) (AFP) – The luxury San Francisco home of OpenAI boss Sam Altman was hit by a Molotov cocktail on Friday, the company said, as police announced the arrest of a suspect. No one was injured in the incident, and the firm behind the popular ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot would not confirm if the CEO was home at the time. The motive for the attack and subsequent threats to set fire to OpenAI’s San Francisco headquarters — apparently by the same 20-year-old man — were not immediately known. But they come as Altman’s profile has risen with the increasing use of AI, amid fears it could massively disrupt employment patterns and cause irreversible societal changes.
Police in San Francisco responded after reports that someone had tried to set fire to a gate at the sprawling home. A statement from the San Francisco Police Department said officers were dispatched to the home just after 4:00 am (1100 GMT). “At the scene, officers learned that an unknown male subject threw an incendiary destructive device at a home, causing a fire to an exterior gate. The suspect then fled on foot,” SFPD said. A short time later they were called to the firm’s offices where a man was making threats. “When officers arrived on scene, they recognized the male to be the same suspect from the earlier incident and immediately detained him,” the statement said of the unnamed 20-year-old suspect.
A spokesman for OpenAI confirmed the attack on the chief executive’s residence and the threats to the San Francisco headquarters. “The individual is in custody, and we’re assisting law enforcement with their investigation,” the spokesman told AFP.
Altman and OpenAI have become targets for people protesting AI as a threat to society. Detractors have been particularly troubled by OpenAI’s decision to provide its technology to the US Department of Defense. In a rare post on his personal blog, Altman shared a photo of his husband and their baby “in the hopes that it might dissuade the next person from throwing a Molotov cocktail at our house.” The OpenAI chief defended his convictions and called for a de-escalation of rhetoric surrounding.
“I empathize with anti-technology sentiments and clearly technology isn’t always good for everyone,” Altman wrote. “But overall, I believe technological progress can make the future unbelievably good, for your family and mine.” OpenAI last month said it was valued at $852 billion after a funding round that raised $122 billion. The figure reflects the surging costs of computing power and came amid lingering questions about whether OpenAI and rival companies can generate sufficient revenue to cover expenses.
ChatGPT claims the top position in consumer AI, with more than 900 million weekly active users and some 50 million subscribers. Use of ChatGPT’s online search engine has tripled over the course of a year, according to OpenAI.
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