We’re learning more about the guy who allegedly lobbed a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s house late last week — and as we do, he’s sounding less like a spur-of-the moment crank and more like a time traveler who caught a glimpse of a coming dystopia.
The incident unfolded last Friday before dawn, when Daniel Moreno-Gama is alleged to have attempted to firebomb the tech CEO’s San Francisco mansion. Police later found and arrested the suspected arsonist outside OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco’s Mission District, booking him on charges including arson and attempted murder, the San Francisco Standard reported.
On top of the firebomb, housekeepers at the hotel Morena-Gama stayed at found a 9mm pistol and a laptop. When police took him into custody, they reportedly found a three-part manifesto in his pockets warning of the existential threat AI poses to humanity, per the Standard. Altman’s life, the manifesto declared, was all that stood between a relatively normal future and one that sounds more like a ham-fisted “Terminator” sequel.
“If by some miracle you live, then I would take this as a sign from the divine to redeem yourself,” one line addressed to the OpenAI CEO declared. That document also listed the names and addresses of other tech industry CEOs and investors, according to the Standard.
Morena-Gama was also found to be a member of the Discord server for PauseAI, an international advocacy group calling for a “temporary pause on the training of the most powerful general AI systems.”
Speaking to the Standard, a spokesperson for the organization said that “PauseAI exists because we believe everyone deserves to be safe, including Sam Altman and his loved ones. Violence against anyone is antithetical to everything we stand for.”
A few days after Morena-Gama’s alleged Molotov attack on Altman’s mansion, two more suspects were arrested for a separate incident. Per local reporting, two people were arrested and charged with negligent discharge of a firearm after allegedly pulling off a drive-by shooting on Altman’s home — though unlike with Morena-Gama, it’s not clear what the motivations were behind that attack.
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