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13-04-2026
PERM: A 20-year-old man has been arrested by San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman early on Friday morning.
Police in the United States said the suspect targeted the property at about 4am local time (11:00 GMT), allegedly throwing an improvised incendiary device that ignited part of an exterior gate before fleeing the scene on foot.
Authorities did not publicly identify the suspect or confirm the address where the attack took place.
Instead, in a post on the social media platform X, the police department said that a residence in the North Beach neighborhood was affected.
However, a spokesperson for OpenAI confirmed the incident took place at Altman’s residence.
“Thankfully, no one was hurt. We deeply appreciate how quickly SFPD responded and the support from the city in helping keep our employees safe,” an OpenAI spokesperson said. Police have not indicated a possible motive behind the attack. The suspect was ultimately located about an hour later near OpenAI’s headquarters, roughly 4.8 kilometers (three miles) away, where he was allegedly threatening to set the building on fire.
OpenAI said it is cooperating with law enforcement as the investigation continues.
Security concerns around OpenAI
The incident comes amid heightened security concerns around OpenAI’s offices, which have faced threats and protests in recent months.
Just last November, a man making violent threats to its San Francisco headquarters briefly prompted an office lockdown.
Altman and the company have increasingly become targets for activists who warn about the risks artificial intelligence could pose to society.
Critics have also raised alarm over OpenAI’s decision to collaborate with the US Department of Defense, a move that has intensified scrutiny of the company’s role in military technology.
Public sentiment towards AI remains mixed. A recent poll found that the technology is viewed even less favorably than US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal agency responsible for violent immigration raids under President Donald Trump.
Despite the criticism, OpenAI’s growth has accelerated rapidly. The company said last month it was valued at $852bn, following a major funding round that raised $122bn.
Companies like OpenAI, however, face lingering questions about whether they can generate sufficient revenue to cover their high expenses.
One of OpenAI’s signature products, ChatGPT, continues to dominate the consumer AI market, with more than 900 million weekly active users and about 50 million subscribers.
The company also said usage of its search features has tripled over the past year.
In February, OpenAI chief Sam Altman has inked a deal with South Korea’s tech giant Kakao as the California-based firm seeks new alliances after Chinese rival DeepSeek shook the global AI industry.
Kakao, which owns an online bank, South Korea’s largest taxi-hailing app and KakaoTalk, on Tuesday announced a partnership allowing it to use ChatGPT for its new artificial intelligence services, joining a global alliance led by OpenAI amid intensifying competition in the sector. Altman’s company is part of the Stargate drive, announced by United States President Donald Trump, which seeks to invest up to $500bn in AI infrastructure in the US. (Int’l News Desk)
