A man reportedly snuck into the lobby of AI startup Anthropic to warn that a top executive was “going to be killed” – the latest incident of violent threats against tech execs as public opinion of AI sours.
On April 15, a man entered the San Francisco headquarters of Anthropic, the world’s most valuable AI startup, by closely following behind an employee who swiped in with their badge, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A security guard rushed over to stop the intruder, who then showed the guard an envelope marked with the name of a top Anthropic executive – warning the employee was “going to be killed” and he needed to alert someone, the report said, citing records of the incident.
It took place days after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s San Francisco home was targeted in an attempted firebombing incident – and then targeted again that same week by a car that pulled up outside the mansion and fired a shot from the passenger window, according to law enforcement.
The Texas man who allegedly tossed a Molotov cocktail at Altman’s house was charged with attempted murder and attempted arson after officers found a terrifying manifesto calling for the killing of tech CEOs and investors. He has pleaded not guilty.
Such incidents are reportedly just a drop in the bucket as California cops have responded to a slew of threats against Anthropic and OpenAI workers, according to the Journal.
Anthropic did not confirm the April incident, telling The Post it has operated 24/7 security since 2024 and regularly communicates with employees about emerging risks.
A spokesperson for the company told the Journal that its security team is trained to seek de-escalation and not to detain people.
Also in April, a man who applied for a job at Anthropic under a fake name allegedly posted a threat to skin the children of company employees as “punishment” for supposedly stealing his work, the Journal reported, citing police records. No arrest was made.
In June, Anthropic security workers allegedly reported an Oklahoma man to police after he threatened violence against company employees while trying to get a refund, according to records.
“Since yall refuse to have a real person to contact me and refund my money ill be coming to your office with my pistol and then we will have a f–king talk about my money,” the man wrote.
Public opinion has fast turned against AI as the new tech is increasingly cited as a leading reason for layoffs.
Grieving family members have filed lawsuits against AI giants, alleging their chatbots drove their children to commit suicide and self-harm.
Americans have also grown concerned about environmental risks and the potential for higher energy costs from power-hungry data centers being built in their neighborhoods.
Four times as many people are concerned about AI as those who aren’t, according to a March survey of 1,400 US adults by Quinnipiac University.
“What has surprised me is how bad it’s gotten over such a short period of time,” Jonathan Graff, chief executive of Liferaft, which scans social media and the dark web for mentions of Fortune 100 companies, told the Journal.
The volume of digital threats targeting AI CEOs and data centers grew sevenfold between late February and May, according to Liferaft.
As tech giants grow fearful of the mounting threats, some of the largest companies have started ramping up their spending on security – even hiring armed guards to travel with top executives.
Security spending at Palantir Technologies jumped 150% to nearly $3 million in 2025 from the previous year, according to the Journal’s analysis of financial disclosures.
At Oracle, spending rose 85.5% to $5.6 million, mostly to fund boss Larry Ellison’s residential security, while Salesforce’s grew to roughly $4 million, about $1 million more than the previous year.
“People talk about AI in the context of the Industrial Revolution, and the Luddites were actually very violent,” Daniel Green, a consultant who works on AI training and corporate adoption, told the Journal.
At a conference earlier this year, Palantir CEO Alex Karp warned that fears of massive layoffs are driving negative public sentiment against the industry.
When told “your job is going to disappear,” he said, “people go for the pitchfork.”
