The man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s San Francisco home allegedly suggested “Luigi’ing some tech CEOs” in a conversation on an anti-AI Discord server last December.
In screenshots obtained by The Hill, suspect Daniel Moreno-Gama reportedly referenced accused killer Luigi Mangione while asking about if violence was allowed to be discussed on the server. Mangione is currently awaiting trial for the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in late 2024.
Morena-Gama was arrested near the North Beach neighborhood headquarters of OpenAI last Friday where he was “threatening to burn down the building.” San Francisco Police identified him as the same person involved with an incident at Altman’s home earlier that morning and he was subsequently charged with attempted murder and attempted arson.
As the top exec at the company behind ChatGPT, Altman is one of the most recognized, respected and reviled figures from Silicon Valley’s AI boom.
The screenshots of Moreno-Gama’s comments were captured by a team member from the investigative podcast “The Last Invention” who connected with Moreno-Gama online and later arranged for him to be interviewed on the show.
Moreno-Gama went on to downplay his remarks during the recorded interview, telling host Andy Mills that what he said “shouldn’t be taken too literally.”
Taylor Hill via Getty Images
“People kind of say that all the time. I didn’t really mean that as a threat or anything,” he reportedly said in audio shared with The Hill.
Mills reportedly followed up by suggesting his guest was trying to be “provocative,” allegedly prompting Moreno-Gama to say, “Yes, that’s kind of my idea. I’d rather be provocative with my statements than actually promote something like that.”
“So you don’t really think it would be wise for someone to say ‘let’s kill Sam Altman?’” Mills then asked, according to The Hill. Moreno-Gama responded saying “no” and later added that “it’s not worth it.”
In a piece published by The Free Press on Wednesday, Mills recalled Moreno-Gama telling him that while he did not condone health insurance CEO Thompson’s murder, he felt that what he and others “saw with Mangione” was that “a lot of people were able to excuse it.”
“I think that’s interesting,” he reportedly added.
