With so much doomsaying over the existential threat of AI — nevermind its toll on environmental, economic, and mental health — it was perhaps only a matter of time before heated rhetoric spilled out of the internet and into the real world. Case in point, OpenAI reportedly locked down its offices in San Francisco after it allegedly received a violent threat from an anti-AI diehard.
“Our information indicates that [an activist] from StopAI has expressed interest in causing physical harm to OpenAI employees,” an OpenAI employee wrote on Slack, according to Wired. “He has previously been on site at our San Francisco facilities.”
Though Wired didn’t identify the individual by name, the publication City Journal later reported that the group StopAI — an activist organization struggling for a permanent ban on AI development — posted a lengthy statement indicating it may be Sam Kirchner, one of the group’s cofounders.
In its statement, StopAI distanced itself from Kirchner, stressing the group is “deeply committed to nonviolence.” Just before OpenAI went into lockdown, Kirchner posted on social media that he is “no longer part of StopAI.”
Per CJ, Kirchner’s present whereabouts are unknown. It also isn’t clear yet if Kirchner was the same activist making the threats, though StopAI claimed that the cofounder had assaulted another member of the group who “refused to give [Kirchner] access to funds” prior to OpenAI’s lockdown.
“His volatile, erratic behavior and statements he made renouncing nonviolence caused the victim of his assault to fear that he might procure a weapon that he could use against employees of companies pursuing artificial superintelligence,” the group wrote.
StopAI organizers have previously coordinated hunger strikes in front of various AI company offices. Earlier this month, the group also claimed responsibility after an attorney from the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office served OpenAI CEO Sam Altman a subpoena to appear as a witness in a criminal case.
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