The suspect of attacking and attempting to murder Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company that owns ChatGPT, appeared in court yesterday. The 20-year-old is charged with attempted murder, arson and possession of an explosive deviceas detailed The San Francisco Standard.
Sam Altman’s mansion was attacked twice last weekend, first with a Molotov cocktail and then with a shooting. The alleged suspect is Daniel Moreno-Gama, a 20-year-old young man, originally from Texas, who has a history of mental health problems and, as his lawyer stated in court, He committed the attack while suffering an “acute mental crisis.”
Public defender Diamond Ward said the charge was excessive and described it as a property crime in which there were no injuries and only minor damage to a door. He also explained that the man is autistic, has no criminal record and works part-time in a pizzeria, while studying at a community college.
“It is unfair and unacceptable for the San Francisco district attorney and the federal government to instill fear and exploit the mental illness of a vulnerable young man, by turning a vandalism case into an attempted murder case with (the possibility of a life sentence) to obtain the support of a billionaire,” Ward alleged.
The defendant’s parents also came to his defense and explained that he is “loving” and “attentive,” noted that he has never hurt anyone and that he recently suffered a mental health crisis.
The prosecutor rejected these defense arguments and assured that her office had no reason to assume that Moreno-Gama suffered from mental health problems. Additionally, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins noted: “It is very clear that this was a targeted attack against Mr. Altman. It doesn’t matter if it’s a billionaire, a CEO, or an ordinary citizen of San Francisco. “Regardless of the social status of the victim, everyone deserves justice and safety.”
Moreno-Gama remained hanging around San Francisco after the attack; He was traveling with a gun that was found in the hotel where he was staying. As reported by the Houston Chronicle, On Monday the FBI raided his home in Spring, Texas. The criminal complaint filed in federal court, at the time of being found by agents of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), stated that Moreno-Gama was carrying incendiary devices, a kerosene bottle and a blue lighter.
Also He had a manifesto divided into three parts, in which he analyzed the supposed risk of AI for humanity and promoted the assassination of executive directors of companies in the sector and their investors, including a list of names and addresses allegedly corresponding to these executives and investors. The last part of the document consisted of a letter addressed to Altman, in which he stated: “If by some miracle you survive, then I would take this as a divine sign for you to redeem yourself.” His social media posts also emphasize his concern about the risk of AI causing human extinction.
The defendant was also a member of an activist group called PauseAI, hosted on the Discord platform; This promotes a pause in the development of the most advanced general AI systems. However, after learning of the attack, the group disassociated itself from Moreno-Gama’s actions, took charge of expelling him from the server and said in a statement: “PauseAI exists because we believe that everyone deserves to be safe, including Sam Altman and his loved ones. Violence against anyone is contrary to everything we stand for.”
This was not the only incident that took place at the Altman home, as On Sunday morning, two young men shot at his house from a Honda sedan. They were Amanda Tom, 25, and Muhamad Tarik Hussein, 23, who were arrested a short time later by police. The prosecutor is investigating whether these are two related incidents.
