Misguided doomers celebrating assassins online need to learn how to debate, rather than encourage evil ghouls | Latest Tech News
Attempts have been made on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s life not once, but twice, just in the month of April. Then on Saturday a madman making an attempt to assassinate President Donald Trump, the third recognized attempt, was thwarted in Washington DC.
Worryingly, the response online isn’t condemnation — for some, it’s a sick celebration.
“I kinda like it,” one nameless Reddit person responded to news somebody threw a Molotov cocktail at Altman’s home on April 10.
Two separate assaults had been launched against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman this month. FilmMagic
“After all those s—ty decisions [Altman] made… practically giving us a middle finger… I don’t feel any semblance of sympathy for him,” the poster added of the OpenAI boss, whose ChatGPT program is the most generally used AI software in the US.
“Keep em coming,” another chimed in to the online thread. And a third, “Good on you, best news I’ve heard all day.”
AI “doomers,” satisfied artificial intelligence will displace jobs or even destroy humanity are, extremely, rallying around Altman’s 20-year-old accused attacker. On April 10, Daniel Moreno-Gama allegedly tried to kill Altman at his home in San Francisco with a Molotov cocktail, before making an attempt to burn down OpenAI’s headquarters. He has since been charged with tried homicide.
On Instagram, feedback with hundreds of likes celebrated the assault. “I hope that Molotov is okay,” one person joked. Another requested, “Where can we support their bail fund?” Others wrote, “More, more, MORE” and “a hero is born.”
Speculation is mounting online that more assaults against AI CEOs like Altman can be tried. Reddit
Two days later, another incident occurred which led to the arrest of two people for allegedly firing a gun at Altman’s property. The names of those arrested haven’t been launched.
Many web customers are drawing parallels between these incidents and alleged United Healthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione. For AI doomers, Moreno-Gama is another model of Mangione — or Robin Hood.
A Redditor responded: “Luigi no!!!! Not another CEO!!!” Another joked that we “need a leaderboard” for CEO murders “with Luigi at the top.”
Some approached the conflict on AI with a spiritual zeal. “Altman is the anti-christ, he will destroy humanity if it benefits him,” one Reddit person said.
Others waxed philosophical in their moral justifications for obvious tried homicide: “If it were a trolley problem, press [a] button and an AI CEO dies, don’t press it and 90% chance nobody dies, 10% chance everyone on the planet dying, I think most people would press the button.”
Daniel Moreno-Gama allegedly tried to burn down Open AI’s headquarters in April. Department of Justice
On Instagram, customers defended the tried murderer and celebrated the obvious attempt on Altman’s life. @paularambles/X
The surprising callousness is rooted in real anxiety among Gen Z, who, because they’re still only developing their careers and establishing themselves, have the most to lose to AI.
An April Gallup ballot discovered that Gen Z has been souring on AI at a speedy tempo. Over just the past yr, the proportion of Zoomers who said they had been excited about AI dropped from 36% to 22%. The proportion who had been offended about AI rose from 22% to 31%.
The response online exposes a marked collective consolation with violence as a political software. “hostility to break it to you but at some point violence is the only way things change,” one Redditor said.
According to a 2025 YouGov ballot, the thought is more and more stylish among youthful generations. While just 6% of senior residents say that political violence might be justifiable, 19% of Zoomers say the same (notably, another 15% declined to reply the survey query).
On Saturday, a 31-year-old California instructor — a younger millennial — opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. According to his manifesto, Cole Allen was concentrating on Trump administration officers.
“I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people *chose* to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn’t come to that,” he allegedly wrote.
Cole Allen allegedly tried to kill Trump administration officers at the White House Correspondents Dinner. truthsocial/@realDonaldTrump
One Redditor responded to the assault at the Correspondent’s dinner by predicting that “this will happen again. And Again. And Again.” They added, “I’ve never seen anyone in the public eye bait whole ethnic groups and nations like [Trump] has. Of course this will happen.”
When it comes to AI, a comparable revolutionary zeal is palpable on the web.
A Redditor predicted that “things are going to get a lot worse” when “people start getting laid off en masse,” due to AI.
A debate broke out online about whether or not there’s ever an excuse for violence. Reddit
Some drew parallels between the assault on Altman and the French Revolution — during which the guillotine was launched — claiming that “elites have forgotten that unions and fair wages are part of the social contract so they don’t get their heads cut off.”
The widespread bloodthirst is a scary reminder that a era of younger people has not been taught the significance of debate, expression, and persuasion.
Redditors are adopting revolutionary language as they focus on the menace posed by AI. Reddit
Instead, they’re stooping to the basest human instincts: violence, rage, and mob mentality.
It’s a disgrace that the discourse among people involved about AI is so excessive and vitriolic. It distracts from a very real fact: AI might basically upend our society and younger people’s futures. But cheering on a child with a Molotov cocktail does nothing to change this fact.
Instead, younger people completely must drive sturdy debates about AI. They needs to be taking motion, not with weapons, but by collaborating in the political course of, shaping AI reforms and AI laws that may very nicely shield their futures.
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