Suspect Arrested After Molotov Cocktail Thrown at Sam Altman’s San Francisco Home

In brief

• San Francisco police arrested a suspect after an incendiary device was thrown at the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
• Officers later detained the same individual near OpenAI’s headquarters after he allegedly threatened to burn down the building.
• No one was injured, and police say the investigation remains ongoing.

San Francisco police arrested a suspect early Friday after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. According to a report by NBC News, police responded to Altman’s home in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood around 4:12 a.m. PT after receiving a report of a fire. Investigators said an unknown man threw an incendiary device, causing a fire on an exterior gate before fleeing the scene. Police described the device as a Molotov cocktail or similar incendiary device. Officers later detained the suspect near OpenAI’s headquarters after he allegedly threatened to burn down the building. When officers arrived, they recognized the individual as the same suspect from the earlier incident and detained him. According to reports, the police did not name the suspect but described them as a 20-year-old man. Authorities said charges are still pending and the case remains an active investigation.

 "Early this morning, someone threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s home and also made threats at our San Francisco headquarters,” an OpenAI spokesperson told Decrypt. “Thankfully, no one was hurt. We deeply appreciate how quickly SFPD responded and the support from the city in helping keep our employees safe.” OpenAI is assisting law enforcement with their investigation, they added. The attack comes amid a rise in threats tied to artificial intelligence development, including a recent case in Indiana where shots were fired into the home of a city council member who supported building a data center, with a note left at the scene reading, “No data centers.”

In a blog post Friday afternoon, Altman addressed the attack, posting a picture of his family, adding that he hopes “it might dissuade the next person from throwing a Molotov cocktail at our house,” no matter what they think of him. “The first person did it last night, at 3:45 am in the morning. Thankfully it bounced off the house and no one got hurt,” Altman wrote. In his post, Altman also alluded to the recent investigative article in the New Yorker about the OpenAI CEO, which he called incendiary. “Someone said to me yesterday they thought it was coming at a time of great anxiety about AI and that it made things more dangerous for me,” he said. “I brushed it aside.” The incident follows another security scare in November reported by Wired, in which OpenAI locked down its San Francisco offices after receiving a violent threat linked to an anti-AI activist who had previously visited the company’s facilities and was suspected of planning harm against employees. Editor’s note: This article was updated after publication to include comments from Sam Altman made in a blog post.