SAN FRANCISCO — A Texas man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home last week wrote a lengthy diatribe beforehand arguing that artificial intelligence is a threat to human existence, according to court documents.
Federal prosecutors say Daniel Moreno-Gama threw the explosive device about 3:37 a.m. Friday, setting an exterior gate at Altman’s home on fire, before he ran away. Less than an hour later, authorities say, Moreno-Gama went to OpenAI’s headquarters and threatened to burn down the building and kill anyone inside.
On Monday morning, FBI agents went to Moreno-Gama’s home in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, where they spent several hours. He has been charged with possession of an unregistered firearm and damage and destruction of property by means of explosives.
When Moreno-Gama was arrested Friday, officials found a document on him in which he “identified views opposed to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the executives of various AI companies,” court documents say.
The diatribe described in court documents matches one that was sent by email to NBC News and to several other news organizations. The 23-page paper was sent from an email address with Moreno-Gama’s name shortly after the attack on Altman’s home.
The paper argued that humanity is quickly accelerating toward extinction and advocated for violence against people who are working on developing AI. It also includes a list of AI tech executives and associated addresses.
Moreno-Gama was arrested Friday morning by San Francisco police officers, who recovered a copy of his anti-AI diatribe, a kerosene jug and a lighter, according to the criminal complaint.
The complaint includes photos in which a person — identified in the document as Moreno-Gama — is shown striking the glass doors of an office building with a chair. Another photo shows the person holding a jug of kerosene.
It was not immediately clear whether Moreno-Gama would also face state charges in California. Authorities in San Francisco did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
Advocacy groups that have issued grave warnings about AI’s risks to society condemned the violence.
Anthony Aguirre, president and CEO of the Future of Life Institute, said in a written statement Friday that “violence and intimidation of any kind have no place in the conversation about the future of AI.”
Hours after the attack on his house, Altman posted a photo of his husband and their toddler in a blog post addressing the threats against him.
“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,” Altman wrote.
He added that “fear and anxiety about AI is justified” but that it was important to “de-escalate the rhetoric and tactics and try to have fewer explosions in fewer homes, figuratively and literally.”
