Sam Altman responds to an ‘incendiary’ New Yorker article after his home was attacked

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman published a blog post Friday evening responding to both the apparent attack on his home and an in-depth New Yorker profile raising questions about his credibility.

Early Friday morning, someone allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at Altman’s home in San Francisco. No one was injured in the incident, and the suspect was later arrested at the OpenAI headquarters, where he threatened to burn the building down, according to the SF Police Department.

Although the police have yet to publicly shame the suspect, Altman noted that the incident happened just days after a “hot article” about him was published. He said someone had suggested that publishing the article “at a time of great concern about AI” would make things “very dangerous” for him.

“I was shocked,” Altman said. “Now I’m awake in the middle of the night and I’m angry, and I think I’ve underestimated the power of words and narrative.”

The article in question was a lengthy investigative piece written by Ronan Farrow (a Pulitzer winner for reporting on the many sexual harassment allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein) and Andrew Marantz (who has written extensively on technology and politics).

Farrow and Marantz said that during interviews with more than 100 people with knowledge of Altman’s business conduct, most described Altman as someone with “an insatiable appetite for power that, even among industrialists who put their names on spaceships, sets him apart.”

Along with other journalists who profiled Altman, Farrow and Marantz suggested that multiple sources raised questions about his credibility, with an anonymous board member saying it included “a strong desire to please people, to be liked in any given interaction” and “a social indifference to the consequences that might come from cheating.”

In his response, Altman said that looking back, he can see “a lot of things I’m proud of and a lot of mistakes.”

Among the flaws, he said, was a tendency to “disagree,” which he said “caused me and OpenAI a lot of pain.”

“I’m not proud of the misbehavior in the conflict with our previous board that led to a huge crisis for the company,” Altman said, possibly referring to his removal and immediate reinstatement as OpenAI CEO back in 2023. “I’ve made a lot of other mistakes throughout this crazy OpenAI journey; I’m a fallacy in the middle of the year, trying to get in the best shape, which is always more difficult each year.”

He added, “I apologize to the people I hurt and I wish I had learned sooner.”

Altman also acknowledged that there seems to be “a lot of Shakespearean drama between the companies in our industry,” which he says is created as a dynamic “ring of power” that “makes people do crazy things.”

Of course, the proper way to deal with a power ring is to destroy it, so Altman added, “I don’t mean that. [artificial general intelligence] it’s the ring itself, but instead the whole philosophy of ‘being in control of AGI.’” His proposed solution is to “focus on sharing the technology with people at large, and nobody will own the ring.”

Altman concluded that he welcomes “honest criticism and debate,” while reiterating his belief that “technological advances can make the future unbelievably good, for your family and mine.”

“While we have that debate, we should tone down the rhetoric and tactics and try to have fewer explosions in fewer homes, figuratively and literally,” he said.