(RNS) — Last month, a man hurried up the driveway of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s San Francisco compound hours before sunrise and lobbed a flaming Molotov cocktail at the gate.
No one was injured, and shortly after, a suspect was arrested outside the offices of OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT, allegedly threatening to “kill everyone inside.” Daniel Moreno-Gama, 20, who has no prior criminal record, has been charged with 13 felonies, including attempted murder.
Moreno-Gama’s parents and lawyer have said he has a history of mental illness, but his digital footprint also shows he was deeply concerned that artificial intelligence would lead to human extinction. He frequented an anti-AI Discord server, where he mused in a chat about violent acts against tech leaders like Altman. And in a podcast interview recorded in January, he described himself as an “AI safetyist” and cited the influence of Eliezer Yudkowsky, a prominent AI theorist who argues that if anyone builds superintelligent AI, everyone will die.
The attack on Altman has ratcheted up existing tensions in Silicon Valley. AI safety proponents overwhelmingly denounced Moreno-Gama’s alleged actions, including Yudkowsky, who insisted that “only law can prevent extinction.” Yudkowsky also assigned some blame to another camp: accelerationists, who largely believe the existential risk of AI is low and that unregulated AI development is needed to bring about a glorious utopia.
In turn, accelerationists accused those known as doomers, like Yudkowsky, of radicalizing young people. “Proselytizers of an apocalypse cult bear moral and legal responsibility for violence committed by their followers,” venture capitalist and techno-optimi …