Khaberni - This month, the home of Sam Altman, CEO of the AI company "Open AI", was attacked with a Molotov cocktail thrown at its gate, and an hour later, Daniel Moreno-Gama (20 years old) was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack. He was then found outside the "Open AI" headquarters allegedly trying to break in with a chair.
Two days later, two other individuals were arrested following a shooting near Altman's house, and it is still unclear whether the shooting was targeting Altman personally.
Online, some have blamed these attacks on so-called "AI pessimists", those who believe that AI poses an existential threat to society, according to a report by "Fortune" magazine.
Despite the fact that the man accused of attacking Altman's home had posted a statement warning of the "extinction" of humanity by AI, there is also the truth that less extreme but widely spread anti-AI sentiments have been growing for years.
Increasing Concerns
People are increasingly becoming more aware and concerned about the environmental impacts of technology, job automation, and the use of AI in warfare. There are also cases of psychological harm linked to this technology, which have already led to a wave of lawsuits blaming the technology in several deaths, including teenage fatalities.
Moreover, some individuals, especially those who grew up during the rise of social media, are becoming more concerned about the potential for addiction to AI tools or excessive reliance on them.
Part of this issue is attributed to a flaw in marketing messages, often fueled by AI labs themselves.
Over the years, technology company executives have promoted AI as a dangerous technology that could assist people in launching cyberattacks, developing biological weapons, and almost certainly leading to mass unemployment. It could also lead to human extinction.
This month, the company Anthropic launched the "Mythos" model, described as so dangerous that it cannot be used by the general public. In this case, this fear might be justified. But it turns out that fear is also a very effective marketing tool; it's hard to think of another consumer product where the manufacturers continuously warn the public that it could destroy civilization.
In any case, it seems that the public has been listening.
Decline in Support
A poll conducted by "NBC News" in March found that only 26% of respondents had positive views on AI, compared to 46% with negative views, with only the Democratic Party and Iran being less popular.
The anti-AI sentiment is particularly acute among the younger generation, who are already facing a tough job market. A poll published by Gallup this month showed that Generation Z's enthusiasm for AI fell from 36% to 22% within a year, while feelings of anger rose from 22% to 31%, which Gallup attributed to concerns that technology is eliminating entry-level jobs.
There is still debate over the extent to which AI is responsible for the difficulty of the job market for recent graduates, or whether it is just a convenient excuse for layoffs and downsizing under difficult economic conditions. But after years of executives citing this technology to justify reducing staff numbers, it seems that the public has adopted this narrative.
The negative environmental impacts of AI also resonate with the public. In the period between April and June 2025 alone, 20 proposed data center projects worth a total of 98 billion dollars were disrupted or postponed due to local opposition.
Communities have expressed concerns about the pressure on local power networks, rising electricity bills, and the substantial amounts of water needed to cool these facilities, as well as light pollution and dust generated by construction activities.
This anger has escalated enough to impact legislative agendas, with New York state recently proposing a three-year ban on new data center construction permits.
The Extreme Side of AI Opposition
Altman might be paying the price for being the most visible face in the AI industry. Most people outside major tech hubs associate AI with the name of the company Open AI - or its chatbot developer, Chat GPT.
Interestingly, the attacks on Altman were not the first security incident faced by "Open AI". In November, employees were asked to stay in place after a man threatened to carry out attacks on employees at their offices in San Francisco.
Late Recognition
Even within AI labs, some employees are beginning to recognize that their companies might have a marketing problem. Ron - widely believed to be a pseudonym for Open AI researcher Tarun Gojojineni - posted on the X platform this month about this issue.
The post stated: "AI labs, in competing against each other, waste huge amounts of public trust in AI for slight gains at the expense of others. Their lobbying groups, PR machines, and lawsuits. This is exactly the opposite of what Marxist class conflict analysis might indicate."
While AI companies have largely succeeded in making the technology seem ubiquitous, they have not been equally successful in convincing ordinary people of its value.
Most people realize that AI can help in writing emails faster or improving some workflows, but only a few know that it's used to speed up drug discovery or model climate change, or to diagnose rare diseases.
Until this changes, the gap will continue to widen between what the industry believes it is developing and what the public believes it is getting.
