Man Who Threw A Molotov Cocktail At Sam Altman’s House Appears To Leave Motive In Substack
Authorities have not disclosed a motive for Daniel Moreno-Gama, the 20-year-old man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home, but the suspect may have outlined it himself in his 2,879-word Substack post titled “AI Existential Risk.”
In the post, published January 6, Moreno-Gama argues that artificial intelligence (AI) poses an existential threat to humanity and criticizes the motivations of tech leaders, writing that for them “morality and safety become a hindrance to their goals.”
The post focuses heavily on Altman, repeating a series of unsubstantiated allegations, including claims that Altman “raped his own sister,” “assassinated an OpenAI whistleblower,” and lied “under oath to Congress.” Altman has denied the allegations involving his family, and his relatives have said his sister struggles with mental health issues. The whistleblower referenced, Suchir Balaji, was determined by the San Francisco Chief Medical Examiner to have died by suicide.
Moreno-Gama expresses frustration that Altman has “faced zero consequences and is likely to never face any.”
To address what he describes as the threat posed by AI, Moreno-Gama advocates halting the expansion of AI infrastructure. He calls for “stopping the construction of new data centers,” which he describes as “the brains of these models,” and scaling back existing facilities. He also suggests the United States should “strike deals with China” to slow the global development of AI.
He writes that “as many people as possible need to be acting in as many strategic ways possible,” recommending that supporters spread information online and through traditional methods, as well as engage in campaigning and protests. He describes inaction as “akin to suicide.”
Authorities said Moreno-Gama was found with a manifesto that included a list of AI executives and investors along with their addresses. He expressed hostility toward other prominent figures in the tech industry, including xAI Founder Elon Musk, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Amazon Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, though Altman was the primary focus of his writings.
Additional posts published on Moreno-Gama’s Substack account provide further insight into his thinking in the weeks leading up to the alleged attack.
In one article, he reflects on the meaning of life, writing, “Every generation of humans has for the most part done whatever is in its power to increase the standards of living for their children and therefore the next generation.”
He also wrote that he grew up Protestant but later drifted between practicing faith and atheism, adding that he no longer identifies as an atheist.
Elsewhere, he contrasts the idea of a “martyr,” someone willing to die for a cause, with a “warrior,” who he says may also be willing to kill for it. Moreno-Gama invokes Jesus Christ as the ultimate example of the martyr.
The final post before his alleged attack was a poem titled ‘What Will Their Children Say,” questioning how future generations might judge the present. “Did you think this could happen?” it asks. “Was there anything you could’ve done to stop it?”
Weeks later, Moreno-Gama allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at Altman’s home and threatened to burn down OpenAI’s headquarters. Altman responded with a blog post and a photo of his family, saying he hoped it would deter future acts of violence.
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