OpenAI Locks Down San Francisco Offices Following Alleged Threat From Activist
OpenAI employees in San Francisco was asked to stay inside the office Friday afternoon after the company reportedly received a threat from an individual who was previously associated with the activist group Stop AI.
“Our information indicates that [name] of StopAI has expressed interest in causing physical harm to OpenAI employees,” a member of the internal communications team wrote on Slack. “He has already been on site at our San Francisco facility.”
Shortly before 11 a.m., San Francisco police received a 911 call about a man allegedly uttering threats and intending to harm others at 550 Terry Francois Boulevard, near the OpenAI offices in the Mission Bay neighborhood, according to data collected by crime app Citizen. A police scanner recording archived on the app describes the suspect by name and alleges he may have purchased weapons with the intention of targeting other OpenAI locations.
Hours before Friday’s incident, the individual police reported as allegedly making the threat said he was no longer with Stop AI in a social media post.
WIRED reached out to the man in question but did not immediately receive a response. San Francisco police also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. OpenAI did not provide a statement prior to publication.
On Slack, the internal communications team provided three images of the man suspected of making the threat. Later, a senior member of the global security team said: “At this time there is no indication of active threat activity, the situation remains current and we are taking measured precautions while the assessment continues.” » Employees have been asked to remove their badges when leaving the building and to avoid wearing clothing with the OpenAI logo.
Over the past two years, protesters affiliated with groups calling themselves Stop AI, No AGI, and Pause AI have staged demonstrations outside the San Francisco offices of several AI companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, over concerns that the unfettered development of advanced AI could harm humanity. In February, protesters were arrested for locking the front doors of OpenAI’s Mission Bay office. Earlier this month, StopAI claimed its public defender was the man who took the stage to subpoena OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during an on-stage interview in San Francisco.
In a Pause AI press release from last year, the individual who police say made threats against OpenAI staff members is described as an organizer and said he would find “life not worth living” if AI technologies were to replace humans in scientific discovery and office. “The pause in AI can be considered radical by AI specialists and technicians,” he said. “But it’s not radical among the general public, and neither is completely stopping the development of AGI.”
