Sam Altman speaks out over ICE killings in shocking leaked employee message
Sam Altman has called out ICE for the recent Minneapolis violence in a shocking leaked internal message.
Federal agents fatally shot two people in Minneapolis this month, leading to a wave of protests across the country.
Over the weekend, 37-year-old nurse and US citizen Alex Pretti was killed, following the earlier fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who had just moved to the city.
After a few weeks of corporate silence, more than 60 CEOs have now signed a joint statement urging de-escalation, with a handful of vocal figures in the tech industry condemning the federal crackdown unfolding in Minneapolis.
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LinkedIn co-founder and billionaire Reid Hoffman criticised ICE on social media, while AI researcher Yann LeCun was even more direct, branding the agency as 'M U R D E R E R S.'
Now, the head of one of the world's leading AI companies has directly called out ICE in a leaked message to his staff.
"I love the US and its values of democracy and freedom and will be supportive of the country however I can; OpenAI will too," Sam Altman wrote in an internal Slack message. "But part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach. What's happening with ICE is going too far."
The OpenAI CEO added: "There is a big difference between deporting violent criminals and what's happening now, and we need to get the distinction right."
According to The New York Post, hundreds of OpenAI employees reacted warmly to Altman's comments, responding with heart and 'thank-you' emojis on Slack.
Interestingly, Altman also praised President Trump's leadership in the same message and hopes he can defuse the situation.
"President Trump is a very strong leader, and I hope he will rise to this moment and unite the country," the ChatGPT owner shared. "I am encouraged by the last few hours of response and hope to see trust rebuilt with transparent investigations."
Altman continued to write that his company aims to 'stick to our convictions and not get blown around by changing fashions too much.'
He wrote: "We didn’t become super woke when that was popular, we didn’t start talking about masculine corporate energy when that was popular, and we are not going to make a lot of performative statements now about safety or politics or anything else.
"But we are going to continue to try to figure out how to actually do the right thing as best as we can, engage with leaders and push for our values, and speak up clearly about it as needed."
Apple CEO Tim Cook also spoke out about the incident, stating that he was 'heartbroken' by the events in Minneapolis and called for 'de-escalation,' Bloomberg reported. Cook reportedly has also spoken directly with Trump about the matter.
Melinda Gates is another vocal figure on the issue, posting a length statement on LinkedIn, writing: "No one in the United States should ever have to fear losing their life for taking peaceful, principled action in support of their beliefs."