Daniel Moreno-Gama, 20, was held without bail Tuesday on two counts of attempted murder and attempted arson in California state court, the Associated Press reported. Federal prosecutors have charged him separately with possession of an unregistered firearm and destruction of property by means of explosives.
Authorities said Moreno-Gama traveled from Texas to San Francisco, threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman's residence, then went to OpenAI's headquarters and threatened to burn down the building. San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins described the attack as targeted. The FBI said it would treat the case as an act of domestic terrorism.
Court filings cited by the AP said Moreno-Gama carried writings that described artificial intelligence as a danger to humanity and included threats against Altman and other AI executives. Prosecutors said he attempted to kill both Altman and a security guard at the residence.
Moreno-Gama's public defender offered a different account. The defense said he was in an acute mental-health crisis, is autistic, and has been overcharged. His parents said he had recently begun experiencing mental-health issues and that they were trying to get him treatment.
The defense position is that prosecutors are converting a property crime into an attempted-murder prosecution.
Other public disputes over AI have so far moved through policy channels: job-displacement debates, copyright litigation, state and federal regulatory proposals, protests around data-center siting, and concentration-of-power arguments directed at the largest firms. The Altman case is a state attempted-murder prosecution and federal explosives case in which the alleged motivation, according to prosecutors' filings, is opposition to the AI industry itself.
Moreno-Gama remains in custody without bail.
