The 20-year-old man arrested for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman‘s home in the Russian Hill neighbourhood, San Francisco, has been identified as Daniel Alejandro Moreno-Gama, according to The San Francisco Standard. He was ultimately booked into San Francisco County Jail on Friday afternoon (US time) and charged with attempted murder, arson, criminal threats, two counts of possession of an incendiary device, two counts of possessing a destructive device.
Daniel Alejandro Moreno-Gama: All we know about Sam Altman’s home attack suspect
According to Altman’s account of the shocking scare mentioned in his blog post, the incident happened at around 3:45 am. A police report cited by The San Francisco Standard further established that the suspect threw a bottle containing an ignited rag at the metal gate of 855 Chestnut St.
As obtained by the San Francisco news outlet, surveillance footage captured visuals of the suspect outside the home. For now, the photo has been blurred until US authorities’ formal identification of the suspect.
In a statement shared by the San Francisco Police Department on X, the same suspect threatened to cause severe damage at OpenAI’s headquarters in Mission Bay after fleeing Altman’s neighbourhood following the first alleged attack involving an incendiary device. Officials subsequently confirmed that the suspect was arrested outside the OpenAI’s Third Street offices as he threatened to burn down the building.
In light of the incident, San Francisco police and firefighters were called to Altman’s residence just before 4 am. Authorities said that while the fire occurred at an exterior gate, it had “self-extinguished” by the time they arrived. An incendiary device was recovered as evidence from the scene.
Why was Sam Altman’s house attacked?
Other details related to the case are still under wraps. Authorities have yet to determine the exact motive that spurred the suspect early Friday.
As far as Altman’s blog post is considered, he mentioned coming across an “incendiary article” about himself a few days ago. The ChatGPT maker was possibly referring to a New Yorker article that raised questions about whether Altman “could be trusted.”
In addition to some personal reflections, his blog post also speculated how “great anxiety about AI” may have played a role in influencing the scary incident.
“Someone said to me yesterday they thought it was coming at a time of great anxiety about AI and that it made things more dangerous for me. I brushed it aside,” he wrote. “Now I am awake in the middle of the night and pissed, and thinking that I have underestimated the power of words and narratives. This seems like as good of a time as any to address a few things.”