How a fiery attack on Sam Altman’s home unfolded

In the early hours of 10 April, a man approached the gate of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s house in San Francisco and hurled a molotov cocktail at the building before fleeing. The suspect, 20-year-old Daniel Moreno-Gama, was arrested less than two hours later while allegedly attempting to break into the headquarters of OpenAI with a jug of kerosene, a lighter and an anti-AI manifesto.

Federal and California state authorities have charged Moreno-Gama with a range of crimes including attempted arson and attempted murder. His parents issued a statement this week saying that their son had recently suffered a mental health crisis. Moreno-Gama, who has not yet entered a plea, faces up to life in prison if convicted.

The targeting of Altman and OpenAI took place as widespread discontent against artificial intelligence grows, and is the most prominent attack so far against a person or business related to the technology. Moreno-Gama had a history of posting anti-AI sentiment online, in one case suggesting “Luigi-ing some tech CEOs” in a reference to Luigi Mangione, who is on trial for the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive.

Altman addressed the incident, as well as an unflattering recent New Yorker profile of him and criticism of AI in a blogpost last weekend. He called for a de-escalation of the debate around artificial intelligence and shared a photo of his family, including his infant daughter.

“Images have power, I hope. 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 posted.

Two days after the molotov cocktail incident, San Francisco police arrested two people after they allegedly fired shots from a car outside of Altman’s home. Authorities released the pair from custody on Thursday and have not charged either with a crime. The San Francisco district attorney’s office has stated further investigation is under way to determine if it will press charges, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

What happened in the attack on Altman’s home

Moreno-Gama allegedly traveled from his home in a suburb of Houston, Texas, to San Francisco to carry out the attack, according to the federal criminal complaint against him. Surveillance images from Altman’s home show the alleged assailant walking up the driveway with a flaming molotov cocktail in one hand and throwing it at the house. The firebomb bounced off the building and no one was harmed, Altman wrote in his blogpost, adding that the attack took place at 3.45am.

After leaving Altman’s house, Moreno-Gama showed up about 3 miles (5km) away at OpenAI’s headquarters around 5am. He reportedly attempted to smash the entrance doors with a chair before the building’s security confronted him. Moreno-Gama then told security that he planned to burn the building down and kill anyone who was inside, according to the complaint.

When officers from the San Francisco police department arrived at the scene and arrested Moreno-Gama, they allegedly found incendiary devices, kerosene and a document that condemned AI and called for the killing of CEOs involved with the technology.

Moreno-Gama’s manifesto contained three sections, the complaint stated. The first, entitled “Your Last Warning”, included a vow to kill a list of AI CEOs, board members and investors. The second described “our impending destruction” and the threat of AI wiping out humanity. The document’s last section was directly addressed to Altman, saying that if he survived the attack that he should take it as a divine sign to redeem himself.

Federal authorities described the attack as an escalation of violence against big tech and vowed to use the full force of law enforcement to prevent any acts of destruction against the industry, stating “the FBI will not tolerate threats against our nation’s innovation leaders”.

“If the evidence shows that Mr Moreno-Gama executed these attacks to change public policy or to coerce government and other officials, we will treat this as an act of domestic terrorism,” US attorney Craig Missakian said in a statement. There is no specific federal domestic terrorism statute and California does not have a state domestic terrorism law.

Diamond Ward, Moreno-Gama’s public defender in the case, has criticized law enforcement’s description of the attack, saying that Moreno-Gama has a history of autism and mental illness with no prior criminal record. The attack was the result of a mental health crisis rather than an attempt to harm, Ward alleged.

“This case is clearly overcharged. This case is a property crime, at best,” Ward said. “It is unfair and unjust for the San Francisco district attorney and the federal government to fearmonger and exploit this young man’s vulnerability simply due to the high-profile status of the people involved.”

Moreno-Gama’s arraignment is set for 5 May, and he is in custody without bail until then.

What we know about the suspect

Moreno-Gama lived in the area of Spring, Texas, north of Houston. Until recently he had been attending classes at a community college and working at a restaurant, according to a statement from his parents, who claim that he had been experiencing mental health issues in the lead-up to the alleged attack.

“Our son Daniel is a loving person who has been suffering recently from a mental illness crisis,” his parents said. “We have been trying our best to address these issues and get him effective treatment, and we are very concerned for his wellbeing. He is a very caring person and has never been arrested before.”

Lone Star College confirmed to the Guardian that a student named Daniel Moreno-Gama was enrolled at the institution from June 2024 to mid-December of last year.

Moreno-Gama also left a sizable digital footprint, much of which appears to be dedicated to the risks that artificial intelligence poses against society. In posts online, he went by the username “Butlerian Jihadist” in a reference to the science fiction series Dune and its concept of a human uprising against thinking machines. He also joined the public Discord chat forum for the organization PauseAI, which advocates for preventing the development of advanced artificial intelligence. The group has condemned the attack and stated that Moreno-Gama had no connection to PauseAI apart from his participation in its open chat forum.

“The suspect joined our public Discord server about two years ago. In that time, he posted a total of 34 messages. None contained explicit calls to violence. Our moderators nonetheless flagged one message as ambiguous and issued a warning out of caution,” PauseAI said in a statement.

Moreno-Gama also joined another online forum run by Stop AI, a group that seeks to oppose artificial intelligence through nonviolent activism.

“Several months before his violent outburst, Moreno-Gama joined our public Discord server, introduced himself, then asked ‘Will speaking about violence get me banned?’ He was given a firm ‘Yes.’ He then ceased all activities in our Discord server,” a representative for Stop AI said.

Apart from his engagement with activist groups, Moreno-Gama also appeared to publish a Substack blog and make other anti-AI statements online. In one post as “Butlerian Jihadist”, Moreno-Gama proposed “Luigi’ing some tech CEOs”.

Earlier this year, Moreno-Gama’s online activity drew the attention of producers at the podcast The Last Invention, who were working on an episode about people radically opposed to AI. They interviewed Moreno-Gama in January, where he discussed how he had fluctuated in his political beliefs but then became interested in the arguments of Eliezer Yudkowsky, a prominent AI theorist who warns that a superintelligent AI will destroy humanity.

During the course of the interview, which the podcast posted an edited version of on Thursday, Moreno-Gama discussed how he became more fixated on the idea of AI as an existential threat. When asked by the interviewer on whether people should commit violence to prevent AI’s harms, Moreno-Gama argued that all peaceful mechanisms should be exhausted first and said “no comment” on whether violent acts were warranted. He also described his more extreme online posts, such as referencing Mangione, as provocative online posturing.

“So you don’t really think it would be wise for someone to, let’s say, kill Sam Altman?” the podcast asked Moreno-Gama.

“Um, no,” Moreno-Gama responded, adding: “I understand the frustration that someone might advocate for that, but it’s not practical. It’s not worth it.”