In a troubling turn of events, the San Francisco home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reportedly been targeted for the second time within a mere 48-hour span. This unsettling news has gripped the affluent Russian Hill neighborhood, leaving residents on edge.
The San Francisco Police Department has disclosed that Amanda Tom, aged 25, and Muhamad Tarik Hussein, 23, were apprehended under suspicion of discharging a firearm in this upscale community. Both individuals are alleged to have fired a single shot from a handgun at Altman’s luxurious $27 million mansion in the early hours of the morning, around 2:56 a.m., according to a police report obtained by The San Francisco Standard.
This incident follows closely on the heels of another attack that occurred just two days prior, in which a Molotov cocktail was hurled at the mansion’s exterior gate. Authorities have charged 20-year-old Alejandro Daniel Moreno-Gama in connection with this previous assault.
Fortunately, neither of these alarming incidents resulted in any reported injuries. However, the pattern of attacks has undoubtedly raised concerns among the local community and beyond.
According to reports from the Standard, the suspects behind the recent shooting incident appeared to have executed the attack from Tom’s Honda sedan. They allegedly drove past Altman’s property before circling back to carry out the shooting.
The suspects who allegedly opened fire on Altman’s property drove past it in Tom’s Honda sedan a few minutes before doubling back and opening fire, according to the Standard.
The individual in the passenger seat put their hand out the window and fired at the side of the mansion, according to security personnel who heard a gunshot and surveillance footage cited in the police report reviewed by the Standard.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s San Francisco mansion was reportedly targeted in a second attack in just two days
In the early hours of Friday, someone threw a Molotov cocktail at the pictured exterior gate of Altman’s $27 million mansion
In the early hours of Sunday, a pair of suspects drove past Altman’s pictured mansion and fired a single shot at it, according to a police report reviewed by The San Francisco Standard
The car immediately fled, but its license plate was captured on a security camera, leading San Francisco police to a residence where they arrested Tom and Hussein on charges of negligent discharge, the Standard reported.
When officers searched the home, they reportedly discovered three firearms.
The suspects were booked into the San Francisco County Jail, according to police.
The Daily Mail reached out to OpenAI for comment and did not immediately hear back.
Regarding Friday’s attack, an OpenAI spokesperson previously told the Daily Mail that ‘someone threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s home and also made threats at our San Francisco headquarters’ but that ‘thankfully, no one was hurt.’
The second attack over the course of one weekend seems to justify the anxieties Altman shared in an essay he posted to his blog on Friday, where he reflected on the firebombing of his mansion.
‘Words have power too. There was an incendiary article about me a few days ago,’ the OpenAI CEO wrote.
‘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 continued.
A 20-year-old suspect named Alejandro Daniel Moreno-Gama was arrested in connection with Friday’s Molotov cocktail attack. He is pictured in surveillance footage holding the firebomb
Moreno-Gama also allegedly threatened to burn down OpenAI’s San Francisco headquarters the same day he allegedly threw the Molotov cocktail
‘Now I am awake in the middle of the night and pissed, and thinking that I have underestimated the power of words and narratives.’
In the blog post, Altman also shared a picture of his husband, Oliver Mulherin, and their infant child.
‘Normally we try to be pretty private, but in this case I am sharing a photo in the hopes that it might dissuade the next person from throwing a Molotov cocktail at our house, no matter what they think about me,’ he wrote below the photo.
Altman did not specifically name the article he believed was ‘incendiary,’ but the pair of attacks came just days after an explosive investigation by Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz was published in The New Yorker.
The exposé cited multiple interviews with sources who knew Altman and raised questions about whether the powerful CEO could be trusted.
In his blog post, Altman went on to address his beliefs, noting that he believes advancing science and technology are ‘moral obligations.’
Altman published a blog post on Friday reflecting on the firebombing and shared this picture of his husband and their infant ‘in the hopes that it might dissuade the next person from throwing a Molotov cocktail at our house’
Altman’s blog post also shared anxieties about ‘the power of words and narratives’ potentially motivating attacks against him and his family. He is pictured with his husband, Oliver Mulherin
He hailed artificial intelligence as a ‘powerful tool for expanding human capability,’ but conceded that the fear and anxiety over AI was justified.
‘A lot of the criticism of our industry comes from sincere concern about the incredibly high stakes of this technology. This is quite valid, and we welcome good-faith criticism and debate,’ Altman wrote.
He concluded his blog post with a call to action, writing: ‘While we have that debate, we should de-escalate the rhetoric and tactics and try to have fewer explosions in fewer homes, figuratively and literally.’
