At 3:37 a.m. in San Francisco's Russian Hill, a 20-year-old man hurled a glass bottle filled with kerosene at the metal gate of a residence. The firebomb bounced, shattered, and started a small blaze. No one was hurt. The target was Sam Altman's home.
84 Minutes Later: A Second Attack
Surveillance footage caught the same individual 84 minutes later outside OpenAI's headquarters, several blocks away. He picked up a chair and smashed it against the glass door. When security arrived, he declared his intent to burn down the building and kill everyone inside. Police arrested Daniel Alejandro Moreno-Gama on the spot, seizing a kerosene can, lighter, additional incendiary devices, an unregistered handgun—and a two-page document.
"Your Last Warning" and a Hit List
The federal indictment revealed the document's first section titled "Your Last Warning," claiming the author had already "killed or attempted to kill" Sam Altman. It included names and addresses of multiple AI executives, board members, and investors—a "hit list" in the prosecutor's words. The second part argued that AI poses an existential threat to humanity, ending with a message to Altman: "If you miraculously survive, I will take it as a sign from the gods for you to redeem yourself."
FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Cobo stated, "This was not a crime of impulse. It was planned, targeted, and extremely serious." U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian added that if evidence shows the attack aimed to change public policy or coerce government officials, they will pursue domestic terrorism charges—a first for a crime motivated by anti-AI ideology.
Sunday Morning Gunshot: A Copycat?
The incident did not end on Friday. On Sunday, April 12, a Honda sedan drove past Altman's home on Chestnut Street, turned around, and fired a shot into the house. Two suspects were arrested: Amanda Tom, 25, and Muhamad Tarik Hussein, 23. Police cautioned, "No evidence currently links the two incidents." The statement left open the possibility that the Molotov attack had become a template for copycats.
Altman's Nighttime Lament
Later that day, Altman posted on his personal blog with family photos. "Now I wake up at night angry and starting to think: I underestimated the power of words and narratives," he wrote. He referenced a recent New Yorker article portraying him as a dangerous techno-utopian evangelist, which circulated widely in anti-AI circles. Altman called for de-escalation of rhetoric and welcomed "good-faith criticism and debate," hoping for "fewer exploding houses, both metaphorically and literally."
The episode underscores an escalating rift between AI proponents and opponents. If federal prosecutors apply domestic terrorism charges, it would set a legal precedent, potentially weaponizing the narrative of AI dissent and labeling any critique as extremist.