Gate News message, April 16 — Daniel Moreno-Gama, a 20-year-old college student from Texas, has been accused of attempting to kill OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and had planned attacks on other major tech leaders including Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, and Jensen Huang, according to prosecutors and media reports.
In an online chat months before the alleged attack, Daniel reportedly suggested “Luigi’ing some tech CEOs,” referencing Luigi Mangione, the man accused in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Authorities say Daniel traveled from Houston to San Francisco, threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam’s mansion, then attempted to set OpenAI’s headquarters on fire. He now faces federal and state charges including attempted murder and arson, and has not entered a plea.
According to a podcast interview released in January, Daniel described his transformation from a ChatGPT enthusiast in high school—when he used the tool to “cheat on everything”—to an anti-AI activist consumed by concerns that artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to humanity. Online, he used the pseudonym “Butlerian Jihadist,” a reference to Dune’s fictional war between humans and thinking machines.
Investigators discovered a manifesto linked to Daniel warning that AI would destroy humanity, containing a direct message to Sam: “If by some miracle you live, then I would take this as a sign from the divine to redeem yourself.” Prosecutors also cited online chat records as evidence of his intent to target multiple tech executives.
Sam Altman has long discussed AI risks publicly. When co-founding OpenAI in 2015, he told CNN he wanted to guide the technology rather than fear it. In a 2016 New Yorker profile, he mentioned preparing for survival scenarios including “AI that attacks us,” citing preparations such as firearms, gold, and emergency supplies. Most recently, Altman disclosed he is on a waitlist for a brain digitization procedure, which he acknowledged would be fatal but views as a path to digital immortality.
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