Daniel Alejandro Moreno-Gama, wearing an orange jail uniform, stood silent in a San Francisco courtroom on Tuesday as his attorney entered not guilty pleas to the most serious charges he faces: attempted murder and attempted arson. The arraignment came roughly a month after the April attack on the home of OpenAI’s chief executive, an episode that injected the debate over artificial intelligence’s societal risks into a criminal proceeding.
The 20-year-old community college student and part-time pizzeria employee, who lives in Spring, Texas, is accused of hurling a Molotov cocktail at Altman’s residence. Authorities said the device ignited an exterior gate before Moreno-Gama fled. Less than an hour later, they allege, he appeared at OpenAI’s headquarters about three miles away and threatened to burn the building down.
Ward, the public defender, told reporters that her client was in the grip of a mental health crisis and had been charged more harshly than the circumstances warranted. “Daniel is a kind, hard-working person who has been publicly advocating for peaceful measures to address the danger of AI on humanity,” she said. She attributed his actions to the crisis and not to any desire to harm, and suggested prosecutors were ignoring evidence of his mental health issues.
The judge granted Ward’s request for a mental health evaluation and set another hearing for later this month to discuss the results. District Attorney Jenkins, in a statement last month, described the attack as “targeted” and said the evidence supported the charges. She has not commented on the public defender’s assertions.
Court filings indicate that Moreno-Gama expressed hatred of artificial intelligence in his writings, describing it as a danger to humanity and warning of “impending extinction.” Officials have not said whether Altman was at home during the attack.
The state charges also include attempted arson and attempted criminal threats, with combined penalties that could reach life in prison. Federal prosecutors have separately charged Moreno-Gama with possession of an unregistered firearm and destruction of property by means of explosives; those carry maximum terms of 10 and 20 years, respectively. He made an initial appearance in federal court on Friday.
Moreno-Gama’s parents said in a statement shortly after the attack that their son had never harmed anyone and had recently begun experiencing mental health issues. The next state court hearing is scheduled for later in May, after the mental health evaluation is complete.