San Francisco police say they have a 20-year-old male in custody after someone threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s mansion early Friday morning.
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Officers responded to a North Beach residence at approximately 4:12 a.m. local time for a fire investigation, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department, Allison Maxie, said in a statement. No one was injured and the fire was contained to an exterior gate, the spokesperson said.
OpenAI later confirmed that the attack occurred at Altman’s $27 million estate in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco.
The suspect fled on foot, and his description was later broadcast to all officers, according to SFPD.
At around 5:07 a.m., officers responded to OpenAI’s office, where they said an unknown man was threatening to burn down the building. Officers quickly realized the man making the threats matched the description of the individual who threw the Molotov cocktail at Altman’s home, the police spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for OpenAI praised SFPD’s quick response.
“Early this morning, someone threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s home and also made threats at our San Francisco headquarters. Thankfully, no one was hurt,” a spokesperson for the AI company said. “We deeply appreciate how quickly SFPD responded and the support from the city in helping keep our employees safe.”
SFPD said that charges are still pending and the investigation is ongoing.
Once just a mainstay in Silicon Valley and the startup scene, Altman has become an international fixture who has traveled with President Donald Trump and met one-on-one with numerous other foreign leaders.
At the same time, views of AI in the US have cratered in recent months. Criticism of OpenAI spiked in the wake of the company’s decision to announce a deal with the Pentagon just hours after Anthropic refused to agree to the Department of Defense’s contractual demands.
