Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI published a blog post Friday night in response to an apparent attack on his home and an in-depth New York profile raising questions about its reliability.
Early Friday morning, someone allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at Altman’s San Francisco home. No one was injured in the incident and a suspect was later arrested at OpenAI’s headquarters, where he was threatening to burn down the building. according to the SF Police Department.
While police have not publicly identified the suspect, Altman noted that the incident occurred a few days after “an inflammatory article” about him was published. He said someone had suggested that publishing the article “at a time of great anxiety about AI” could make things “more dangerous” for him.
“I put it aside,” Altman said. “Now I’m awake in the middle of the night and angry, and I think I’ve underestimated the power of words and narratives.”
The article in question was a lengthy investigative piece written by Ronan Farrow (who won a Pulitzer for a report that revealed many of the sexual abuse allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein) and Andrew Marantz (who has written extensively about 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 “a relentless will to power that, even among industrialists who put their names on spaceships, sets him apart.”
echoing Other journalists who have profiled Altman.Farrow and Marantz suggested that many sources raised questions about his trustworthiness, with one anonymous board member saying that he combines “a strong desire to please people, to be liked in any given interaction” with “a sociopathic lack of concern for the consequences that may arise from deceiving someone.”
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In his response, Altman said that, looking back, he can identify “a lot of things I’m proud of and a lot of mistakes.”
Among the mistakes, he said, is a tendency to “be conflict-averse,” which he said has “caused great pain for me and OpenAI.”
“I’m not proud that I mishandled a conflict with our previous board that led to a huge disaster for the company,” Altman said, presumably referring to his dismissal and quick reinstatement as CEO of OpenAI back in 2023. “I’ve made many other mistakes throughout OpenAI’s crazy journey; I’m an imperfect person at the center of an exceptionally complex situation, trying to get a little better every year, always working toward the mission.”
He added: “I’m sorry to the people I’ve hurt and I wish I had learned more and faster.”
Altman also acknowledged that there seems to be “a lot of Shakespearean drama among companies in our field,” which he attributed to a “‘ring of power’ dynamic” that “makes people do crazy things.”
Of course, the right way to approach the problem power ring is to destroy it, so Altman added: “I don’t mean that (artificial general intelligence) is the ring itself, but rather the totalizing philosophy of ‘be the one who controls AGI.'” His proposed solution is to “move toward sharing the technology with people broadly, and no one having the ring.”
Altman concluded by saying that he welcomes “good faith criticism and debate,” while reiterating his belief that “technological progress can make the future incredibly good, for your family and mine.”
“As we have that debate, we should reduce the rhetoric and the tactics and try to have fewer explosions in fewer homes, figuratively and literally,” he said.
