Ultraman's house was almost burned down and the AI controversy turned to physical violence

OpenAI has been having a rough time lately. After a series of negative news, the boss's home and headquarters office building were almost burned down. At 6:35 Beijing time last night, an allegedly 20-year-old man threw a Molotov cocktail at the San Francisco residence of OpenAI CEO Altman.

The local police said that when the police arrived at 7:12 Beijing time last night, they found that the outer courtyard door of Altman's house had been burned. The suspect left the scene on foot after the incident. At 8:07 pm Beijing time last night, the suspect appeared outside OpenAI’s headquarters building in Mission Bay, San Francisco, threatening to burn down the OpenAI building. He was arrested on the spot by police officers.

It has not been announced whether Ultraman was home at the time of the incident. OpenAI official news stated that no one was injured in the two threats and attacks, and there was only minor property damage. OpenAI stated that the company's security department has issued a notice to headquarters employees, stating that the headquarters office building is still open and everyone can go to work as usual, but "do not let anyone follow you into the office building."

This is not the first time that the OpenAI headquarters building has become a vent for the anger of opponents of AI, but it is the first time in public records that Ultraman has been close to a real fatal physical attack. The conflict of public opinions caused by AI technology, like AI technology itself, is quietly changing society.AI-induced attacks are no longer just cyber attacks, but also include increasingly violent real-world violent attacks.

Ultraman publicly stated: I am against violence, but I understand the attacker’s position

Ultraman himself published a long post on his personal blog at 6:55 this morning Beijing time to respond to the matter.

No matter how one evaluates Ultraman's private persona, the public image he has created has always been that of a gentle and decent person, with few violent and violent emotional expressions. Today’s long self-report, the outline framework can be used as a public relations example to learn from.

First of all, he expressed his love for his family and made an exception to post photos of his life.I hope that people who are hostile to him will have empathy and think about it before taking action. We all have families, families, and parents to support us.

Note: Ultraman personally released photos of his spouse and son

Secondly,An implicit reference to the recent heavy negative coverage in The New Yorker.Altman said, "Some people asked me about a provocative article a few days ago: Will publishing this article at the outbreak point of public AI anxiety bring me danger? I ignored it. After this incident, I can't sleep in the middle of the night, thinking that I have underestimated the power of language and narrative. Now I have to speak out."

Then comes the position statement:

Altman once again stated in the article that "generalized AI, bringing prosperity to the world, and promoting scientific and technological progress are his unchanging moral obligations. The world deserves massive amounts of AI, and he will continue to work hard for this."

On this basis,Altman said he understands people’s fears and anxieties about AI.Recognize the legitimacy and moral stance of those who hold this view. In order to appease these opponents, Altman said that "it is not only necessary to align AI models, but also to urgently require the whole society to be alert to new threats and officially introduce public policies to underpin the arduous economic transformation."

All mankind should jointly control the power of AI to shape the future, and everyone should enjoy AI empowerment. Several AI laboratories cannot make the most critical decisions that can affect the future of mankind.

Everyone needs to be more adaptable. AI is a new thing that is developing rapidly, and old ideas may be right or wrong.We all have to keep pace with the times.No one knows yet what impact superintelligence will have, but it will certainly be significant.

After the announcement of his position, Ultraman began to review his own experiences.

After briefly mentioning the legal counterattack against Musk’s various attacks and the famous conflict with OpenAI’s former board of directors,Altman said he had made mistakes in these matters and over the years, and apologized to the people his mistakes had hurt.It is sometimes wrong to avoid risks, and sometimes it is wrong to cause and involve yourself in interpersonal conflicts and then deal with the aftermath.

Altman said that he took OpenAI from a small laboratory to a large company through hard work.Under high-intensity pressure and extreme chaos, we figured out how to innovate with technology, how to raise funds, and how to deliver products stably. There are many companies claiming to "change the world", and Altman said OpenAI has really done it.

After self-reflection and praise, Altman began to look forward to the industry, saying that the desire for control that AGI brings to practitioners has a corrosive and dramatic effect like the Lord of the Rings.

In order to hedge against this effect, Ultraman returned to his blog and stated that the solution is for the whole people to take charge of AI power, and that large companies should not and cannot have sole power.

At the end of the article, Altman once again expressed his understanding of AI critics and opponents, and sympathized with these people’s reasonable positions and opinions. butThe rhetoric and tactics of public debate should be less intense and less "explosive" in both the literal and figurative senses.

Violent attacks on the AI industry and supporters are becoming more frequent, this is the second this week

Although big figures who are often at the center of major events beg everyone not to be too heated, AI has brought real impact to the social and economic structure, and it is impossible not to trigger fierce hostility from some parts of the public.

The trend of public opinion can be seen from the social media posts on the news of Ultraman's attack. There are some ordinary people who condemn violence, but not many. More ordinary people are joking happily and posting various funny pictures and emoticons.

Someone asked angrily: "Did Amoudi do it?"

This netizen, you are really a genius...

If there is a large group of people making mean jokes about deadly attacks, then there is a small group of people who are going to actually do it.The fact that Ultraman's home was almost burned down was not the only lone wolf-style violent attack on the AI industry this week.

Just because the big shot is attracting so much attention, the fact that Ultraman's courtyard door was clicked on is a big news around the world. A small local figure who supports the construction of a data center will not be on national TV news even if he is almost shot to death along with his young son in broad daylight.

At noon local time on Monday, Indianapolis City Councilman Ron Gibson's home was shot 13 times by a gunman. After the gunman committed the attack, he left a piece of paper with the words "No data center allowed to be built" written on it at the door of the place where he was attacked. Gibson and his 8-year-old son were in the room when the attack occurred. Fortunately, they were not injured by gunshots.

Note: The scene after the incident

The possible trigger for the incident is that last week the Indianapolis city government converted a vacant land into a data center development site, and Gibson publicly supported this decision. He said in a public statement that if the land is idle, it will be idle, and it can be used to make some money and benefit the people of this city.

Someone on social media adapted a joke that has become popular in the United States in recent years and commented sharply on this matter: "What do you think anti-data center means? Creating atmosphere? Publishing papers? Writing essays? You are such a loser."

AI anxiety has no answer, physical attacks on executives of large companies surge

Attacking big bosses is nothing new. After all, hating rich people is a tradition that humans have had since the beginning of city-state life. However, after the miracle of ChatGPT, attacks against non-CEO employees of large companies increased dramatically. It’s hard to say that this is not driven by AI anxiety.

According to a survey report on fifty major economic countries quoted in an article on the official website of Fortune magazine on April 6, after 2023, the proportion of personal criminal attacks such as kidnapping, assault, and stalking of non-CEO executives of large companies will increase by 225%.

Legend: Chart of the proportion of executives of large companies and their families targeted by criminals from 2003 to 2025

The surge in personal crimes directly reflects fluctuations in public sentiment.

Regarding "AI replacement", there are many facts that ordinary people cannot and do not need to clarify:

In addition to the programming industry, what other industries have been equally affected?

As far as the software industry is concerned, how many percent of it is actually replaced by AI? How likely is it that the "boss thinks" it needs to be replaced by AI? How likely is it that there are too many people learning to code within ten years, and there is an oversupply of ordinary programmers? How likely is it that large companies are cutting flesh to mend wounds, using mass layoffs to cut operating costs of maintaining employees, and filling the asset cost hole of data centers?

Ordinary people can't answer these questions, and Ultraman and Amoudi don't give a definite answer other than saying that AI will replace you all day long. On the one hand, there is only anger but not on the facts; on the other hand, it is just fanning the flames without paying attention to the facts. Isn't it a logical and inevitable result that Molotov cocktails are served at the big boss's house?