The man accused of trying to kill OpenAI CEO Sam Altman by throwing a Molotov cocktail at his San Francisco home was experiencing a mental health crisis and has been overcharged by prosecutors, his public defender said.
Daniel Moreno-Gama made his first court appearance on state charges, wearing an orange jail uniform and with dishevelled hair. The 20-year-old, whose attorney said is autistic, kept his gaze down during the brief hearing and softly answered "yes" when asked by a judge whether he agreed to continue his arraignment. San Francisco Judge Kenneth Wine ordered him held without bail and set his arraignment for May 5.
Authorities say Moreno-Gama, of Spring, Texas, hurled the incendiary device at Altman’s home Saturday, setting an exterior gate on fire before fleeing on foot. Less than an hour later, Moreno-Gama went to OpenAI’s headquarters about 5km away and threatened to burn down the building, they said. They said he travelled to the city from Texas.
No one was injured at Altman’s home or the company's offices. San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Diamond Ward called the case a "property crime, at best", and said that prosecutors are pursuing higher charges to curry favour with Altman. Moreno-Gama also faces federal charges.
"It is unfair and is unjust for the San Francisco district attorney and the federal government to fear monger and to exploit the mental illness of a vulnerable, young man by turning a vandalism case into an attempted murder, life exposure case to gain support of a billionaire, and to get political points at the expense of true justice for everyone involved," Ward said.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins disputed that he was overcharged, saying Moreno-Gama carried out a "targeted attack on Mr Altman" and that prosecutors had evidence to back up the charges. She said prosecutors would act the same whether the victim was a "billionaire or a CEO or any average San Franciscan".
"Regardless of a victim's status, they all deserve justice and they all deserve safety," she said.
Authorities said Moreno-Gama, who worked part-time at a pizzeria and was attending community college, expressed hatred of artificial intelligence in his writings, describing it as a danger to humanity and warning of "impending extinction", according to court filings.
"This was not spontaneous. This was planned, targeted and extremely serious," FBI San Francisco Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Cobo said during a news conference Tuesday.
Moreno-Gama was charged in California state court with two counts of attempted murder and attempted arson. He tried to kill both Altman and a security guard at Altman’s residence, Jenkins alleged. Officials have not said whether Altman was home at the time, prosecutors said.
Jenkins said the state charges carried penalties ranging from 19 years to life in prison.
On Tuesday, FBI agents went to Moreno-Gama’s home in a Houston suburb where they spent several hours before leaving. He was also charged by federal prosecutors with possession of an unregistered firearm and damage and destruction of property by means of explosives. Those charges carried respective penalties of up to 10 years and 20 years in prison.
"We will treat this as an act of domestic terrorism, and together with our partners, prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law," US Attorney Craig Missakian said.
The federal court documents did not list an attorney for Moreno-Gama, and he was yet to appear in federal court.
The document in which Moreno-Gama discussed his opposition to AI also made threats against Altman and executives at other AI companies, officials said.
"If I am going to advocate for others to kill and commit crimes, then I must lead by example and show that I am fully sincere in my message," Moreno-Gama wrote, according to authorities.
Advocacy groups who had issued grave warnings about AI’s risks to society condemned the violence.
Anthony Aguirre, president and CEO of the Future of Life Institute, said in a written statement Saturday that "violence and intimidation of any kind have no place in the conversation about the future of AI".
Another group, PauseAI, said in a statement that the suspect had no role in the group but joined its forum on the social media platform Discord about two years ago and posted about 34 messages there, none containing explicit calls to violence but one that was flagged as "ambiguous".
Discord said on Tuesday that it had banned Moreno-Gama for "off-platform behaviour".
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