Police arrested a 20-year-old man this morning for throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home in San Francisco.
“Thankfully, no one was hurt,” OpenAI told PCMag. “The individual is in custody, and we’re assisting law enforcement with their investigation.”
The San Francisco Police Department initially responded at 4:12 a.m. “At the scene, officers learned that an unknown male subject threw an incendiary destructive device at a home, causing a fire to an exterior gate,” the department said in a Facebook post.
At 5:07 a.m., police then responded to OpenAI’s office on the 1400 block of 3rd Street, where the subject was outside, threatening to burn down the building. “When officers arrived on scene, they recognized the male to be the same suspect from the earlier incident and immediately detained him,” the post added.
OpenAI also said: “We deeply appreciate how quickly SFPD responded and the support from the city in helping keep our employees safe.”
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So far, police have not revealed the suspect’s identity or motives. But the incident comes amid growing backlash against AI in the US. The technology continues to create worries about job loss for human workers. Meanwhile, some residents have been protesting the construction of AI data centers in their neighborhoods over concerns about pollution, noise, and electricity prices.
OpenAI has pushed back, touting major benefits to the technology that promise to improve society. Still, Altman’s own reputation took a hit this week after an article from the New Yorker alleged that he is a persistent liar, citing interviews with more than 100 people.
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I’ve been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I’m currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector.
Since 2020, I’ve covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I’ve combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink’s cellular service.
I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. Earlier this year, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.
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