OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s Home Hit by Bullets Days After Fire Attack, Two Arrested

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home has been allegedly targeted twice in just two days. In the wee hours of April 12, two individuals fired shots at the San Francisco property. According to the police, a car passed by Altman’s residence located at Chestnut Street shortly before 1:40 a.m.

A few minutes later, the car, identified as a Honda sedan, returned and stopped outside the home. The person sitting on the passenger side then allegedly opened fire at the property. The suspects then fled the scene, but the police were able to track them using surveillance footage.

The authorities located the vehicle at another residence. Upon executing a search warrant for the home, the San Francisco Police Department arrested 25-year-old Amanda Tom and 23-year-old Muhamad Tarik Hussein. Both have been charged with negligent discharge. Meanwhile, three firearms were confiscated from their home.

The incident is still under investigation, and it remains unclear if it was a targeted attack. The shooting is expected to escalate further Altman’s concerns after his home was targeted with a Molotov cocktail on April 10.

Around 3:40 a.m., a man threw a bottle containing a flaming rag at the house, which caused fire at the gate. Fortunately, the fire did not harm anybody because it was extinguished by security guards. The same man then headed to OpenAI’s office around an hour later and threatened to burn down the building.

The police were eventually able to arrest him. The suspect was later identified as 20-year-old Texas native Daniel Alejandro Moreno-Gama. He was charged with attempted murder, arson, and possession or manufacture of an incendiary device.

The motive behind the attack remains unclear, with investigators considering possibilities ranging from a mental health incident to workplace grudges or domestic terrorism. Following the incident, OpenAI released a statement thanking the authorities and announcing that their office spaces were safe.

“We deeply appreciate how quickly SFPD responded and the support from the city in helping keep our employees safe. We're assisting law enforcement with their investigation,” the official statement read.

Altman is the co-founder of OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research company behind large language models like ChatGPT. Since 2019, he has served as the company's chief executive officer.

Following the Molotov cocktail attack, Altman took to his blog to post an image of his husband and daughter. The 40-year-old said he believed sharing an image of his family would “dissuade the next person from throwing a Molotov cocktail at our house, no matter what they think about me.”

“The first person did it last night, at 3:45 am in the morning. Thankfully, it bounced off the house, and no one got hurt,” Altman wrote, adding, “Now I am awake in the middle of the night and p*****, and thinking that I have underestimated the power of words and narratives.”

After acknowledging that the attack might have happened because of anti-technology sentiments, Altman wrote, “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.”