On Friday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home in San Francisco was targeted by a 20-year-old man who allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail. The man named Daniel Moreno-Gama was arrested by the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) shortly after the incident. Now, the prosecutors have claimed that the suspect intended to kill Altman, and feared that humanity will go extinct because of AI.
According to a federal criminal complaint filed on Monday, Daniel allegedly travelled from Texas to “kill” Sam Altman. After the incident, Altman shared a blog post with a picture of his husband and son, urging that his family may not be targeted.
Do note that just two days after this attack, two people allegedly fired shots at Altman’s residence. The SFPD has the two suspects in custody.
What was the attack?
As per the police report, Daniel Moreno-Gama threw a lit “incendiary” device at Altman’s San Francisco residence at around 3:37 am on Friday, causing a fire at the driveway gate.
He then went to OpenAI’s headquarters, where he struck the glass doors with a chair and threatened to burn down the building and kill those inside before police arrested him. No injuries were reported for either of the two instances.
Suspect carried “Last Warning” documents for Sam Altman
After the arrest, officers found a document on Daniel that outlined his intentions. The complaint filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California describes the document as a “three-part series,” including a section titled “Your Last Warning,” in which he claimed to have “killed /attempted to kill” the chief executive of an AI research company, identified in the filing as “Victim-1.” This victim likely corresponds to Altman, though he is not named directly.
The document also contained names and addresses of several AI executives, board members and investors. Another section, titled “Some more words on the matter of our impending extinction,” detailed Moreno-Gama’s views on the existential risks posed by AI.
The document closed with a letter addressed to Altman, stating that “if by some miracle you live, then I would take this as a sign from the divine to redeem yourself.”
What else did the suspect carry?
Moreno-Gama travelled from Texas to California to carry out the attack and reportedly emailed the document to peers at his former college. Authorities recovered incendiary devices, a jug of kerosene, a blue lighter and the anti-AI document during his arrest.
He faces additional federal charges, including attempted damage and destruction of property by explosives and possession of an unregistered firearm.
FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Cobo described the attack as “planned, targeted and extremely serious,” highlighting the escalation from intent to violent action. FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X that the bureau conducted a related operation in Texas.
