By Clare Duffy, CNN
New York (CNN) — Mainstream artificial intelligence safety groups moved quickly to distance themselves after a 20-year-old allegedly attacked the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman last week in what law enforcement officers said appeared to be part of a plot to harm AI executives. But people in some corners of the internet cheered the attack.
One X user compared the attacker to Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a politically motivated attack, in a post calling the two men “heroes.”
Multiple users on X called the attack “justified.”
“If this relentless push for AI and the completely (sic) commoditization of what it means to be human is allowed to continue, this sort of episode will be much more common,” one user posted in an anti-AI Reddit group.
Worries that AI could take human jobs, upend the economy, harm the environment and even pose an existential threat to humanity have grown as the technology advances rapidly. Even tech executives have issued stark warnings.
But recent attacks represent a fringe of the AI opposition movement that’s now moved from anonymous online comments to dangerous, in-person action, prompting debate in Silicon Valley about how to respond.
Three days before the attack on Altman’s home, shots were reportedly fired into the home of Indianapolis councilman Ron Gibson in the middle of the night and a “no data centers” note was left at his door, after a data center was approved in his district.
In recent years, there have also been reports of vandalism and attacks on robotaxis and delivery robots, which some see as harbingers of a high-tech future not everyone asked for.
“(AI) is such a massive, looming issue that people, frankly, don’t understand and are just diffusely afraid of,” said Doug McAdam, a sociology professor at Stanford University who studies political and social movements. He added that it’s “not unusual” for such movements to “produce a radical flank.”
“To ensure society gets AI right, we need to work through the democratic process and a robust debating of ideas is an important part of a healthy democracy,” OpenAI said in a statement following the attack. “However, there is no place in our democracy for violence against anyone, regardless of the AI lab they work at or side of the debate they belong to. We are grateful to law enforcement for their quick response and that no one was hurt.”
‘Luigi-ing tech CEOs’
Daniel Moreno-Gama, who is currently being held without bail, spent time prior to the attack in online spaces dedicated to discussing AI risks.
In an online exchange with the hosts of the AI podcast “The Last Invention,” Moreno-Gama discussed “Luigi-ing tech CEOs,” referring to the accused killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO.
Moreno-Gama also posted in a Discord server for PauseAI — an organization advocating for pausing advanced AI development so safety measures can catch up — in the weeks preceding the attack, the group confirmed. PauseAI disavowed the attack and said Moreno-Gama was not a formal member; the Discord server is open for anyone to join.
“We exist to give people a peaceful, democratic path to act on concerns about AI, and so this attack is the opposite of everything we stand for,” PauseAI CEO Maxime Fournes told CNN.
Stop AI, a separate group pushing to stop advanced AI development, said Tuesday that Moreno-Gama asked on its online forum earlier this year: “Will speaking about violence get me banned?” The group says he stopped posting after being told yes.
“Stop AI has always adhered to nonviolent activism. The current leadership of Stop AI is deeply committed to non-violence in both actions and statements,” Stop AI said in a post on X, before adding that its co-founders were removed from the group after making “provocative statements regarding violence” last year.
During the attack, Moreno-Gama carried a document in which he discussed “the purported risk AI poses to humanity,” wrote about killing Altman and listed “the names and addresses of apparent board members and CEOs of AI companies and investors,” according to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI.
Moreno-Gama’s attorney, San Francisco public defender Diamond Ward, said in court this week that he was in the midst of a mental health crisis during the incident. Ward said her client had been overcharged for a “property crime, at best,” according to the Associated Press. Moreno-Gama’s parents said in a statement that he recently began experiencing mental health issues and has never harmed anyone, adding that they are concerned for his well-being, the AP reported.
A splintering movement
Some in the AI industry were already fearful. OpenAI, for example, has long encouraged employees to remove their badges before leaving the office.
Fournes said he worries there could be more violent outbursts — and that such attacks could paint the complex and diverse, but overwhelmingly peaceful, AI safety movement in a negative light.
“Our response to this is going to be to double down on what we’ve always done — peaceful, lawful advocacy,” he said. “I think it’s very important that movements like ours, which are entirely peaceful, stay on top of what’s happening because there could be much darker movements that start rising.”
History shows radical outbursts can create greater credibility for more moderate wings of social movements, McAdam said.
AI companies “are going to really have to think seriously about how they’re going to respond,” McAdam said. “The movement, as a whole, is gaining visibility and leverage, even as this radical fringe is criticized.”
That debate is already beginning.
OpenAI Global Policy Chief Chris Lehane said some critiques of AI are “not necessarily responsible,” in a Tuesday interview with the San Francisco Standard. “When you put some of those thoughts and ideas out there, they do have consequences,” he said, adding that the company must make clear that AI “is going to be really good for them, for their families and for society writ large.”
His colleague Jason Wolfe, a member of OpenAI’s technical staff working on alignment — a field dedicated to making AI models reflect human needs and values — publicly disagreed in a Thursday X post.
“I believe our job should be to earn trust by making the benefits real, being honest about risks and uncertainty, sharing what we learn, measuring real-world impacts, and supporting public oversight and resilience,” Wolfe said. “And while I of course agree that the recent violence is terrible, unjustified, and may have been encouraged by a small number of bad actors, I think it’s bad for the public discourse to lump all AI critics together as ‘doomers’ and suggest that it’s inappropriate for them to express their concerns.”
–CNN’s Hadas Gold contributed reporting.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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