San Francisco police early Friday arrested a person who allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman’s home and made threats outside the AI giant’s San Francisco headquarters, the company said in a statement.
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“Thankfully, no one was hurt,” OpenAI said.
“We deeply appreciate how quickly SFPD responded and the support from the city in helping keep our employees safe. The individual is in custody, and we’re assisting law enforcement with their investigation,” the company added.
Altman has not publicly addressed the arrest.
In a separate statement, the San Francisco Police Department said officers responded to a home in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco around 4:12 a.m. PT Friday “regarding a fire investigation.”
The officers learned that an unknown man had thrown “an incendiary destructive device at a home, causing a fire to an exterior gate,” police said. The suspect fled on foot, and his description was broadcast to all officers.
Then, around 5:07 a.m. PT, San Francisco police officers responded to a business on the 1400 block of 3rd Street “regarding an unknown male subject threatening to burn down the building.” (OpenAI’s headquarters are at 1455 3rd Street.)
“When officers arrived on scene, they recognized the male to be the same suspect from the earlier incident and immediately detained him,” police said, describing the suspect as a 20-year-old man.
The San Francisco Police Department said charges are still pending, and the case remains an open and active investigation.
The police statement does not mention Altman or OpenAI. In police dispatcher audio reviewed by NBC News, a person can be heard saying: “Someone threw a Molotov cocktail slash sticky bomb at the gate of Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI’s residence.”
The news of the suspect’s arrest was first reported by the technology publication Wired.
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