A 20-year-old man threw a Molotov cocktail at the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman early Friday morning before driving to the company's headquarters and threatening employees, according to a criminal complaint.
The attack follows a recent shooting in Indianapolis, where 13 rounds were fired at the home of a city councilor who supported a local data center project. A note left at the scene of the Indianapolis shooting read "no data centers."
In a post following the incidents, Altman acknowledged the validity of public anxiety regarding the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence.
"The fear and anxiety about AI is justified," Altman wrote, noting that society is witnessing one of its largest transformations.
The rhetoric of existential risk
Altman called for a reduction in the intensity of public discourse, specifically asking for less "explosions in fewer homes, figuratively and literally."
Critics point out that Altman and other industry leaders have spent years using high-stakes language to describe the technology. In 2015, Altman wrote that the development of superhuman machine intelligence could be "the greatest threat to the continued existence of humanity."
In 2023, Altman joined other executives in signing a statement from the Center for AI Safety, declaring that mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside nuclear war.
Other industry leaders have used similarly urgent metaphors. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently wrote that "humanity needs to wake up," while Elon Musk previously described the pursuit of AI as "summoning the demon."
Public sentiment is shifting toward caution. A recent survey found that AI is rising in importance to voters faster than any other issue, with a majority of respondents believing the technology is advancing too quickly.
