OpenAI CEO Sam Altman served subpoena onstage during San Francisco talk

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s public conversation with Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr took a bizarre turn Monday night when a man rushed the stage at San Francisco’s Sydney Goldstein Theater to serve him with a subpoena, according to reports.

The confrontation happened just minutes into the sold-out event, hosted by civic organizer Manny Yekutiel, when a man from the second row jumped onto the stage holding out a document and announcing that he had a subpoena for Altman, SFGATE said.

Yekutiel immediately intercepted the man and handed the paper to a theater security guard, who escorted the intruder away as the audience booed.

Altman remained seated and appeared startled but unharmed.

The next day, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office confirmed the man was one of its investigators.

“An investigator from the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office lawfully served a subpoena on Mr. Altman because he is a potential witness in a pending criminal case,” spokesperson Valerie Ibarra said in a statement to SFGATE.

“Our investigators first made several prior attempts to serve the subpoena at Altman’s company headquarters and via its online portal.”

The activist group Stop AI, which has staged repeated demonstrations outside OpenAI’s headquarters, took credit for the incident online.

In a post on X, the group wrote: “Our public defender successfully subpoenaed Sam Altman to appear at our trial where we will be tried for non-violently blocking the front door of OpenAI on multiple occasions and blocking the road in front of their office.”

“All of our non-violent actions against OpenAI were an attempt to slow OpenAI down in their attempted murder of everyone and every living thing on earth.”

Stop AI said its members face trial this month in San Francisco Superior Court for trespassing and obstruction during past protests, describing the proceedings as a chance to put “AI’s extinction threat” before a jury.

Lucie Faulknor, the theater’s house manager, told the San Francisco Standard that she personally escorted the man out and that he seemed calm and said he had done what he needed to do.

Yekutiel later said he thought the incident seemed like a stunt, noting the envelope was covered in scribbles and the man appeared to be in costume.

California law allows service of a subpoena even if the target refuses to accept the papers physically, as long as they are presented and left within view.

The interruption briefly overshadowed Altman’s wide-ranging talk, which covered wealth inequality, the future of artificial intelligence, and the company’s controversial content policies.

During the discussion, Altman addressed the backlash over his Oct. 14 tweet celebrating that ChatGPT could generate erotic material for verified adult users, calling it “one of my dumbest mistakes of the year.”

He said the change was part of OpenAI’s effort to give adults “a huge degree of individual freedom,” but admitted, “I wish I used a different example.”

The policy update, announced a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have imposed new limits on AI tools to protect minors, drew immediate ridicule and criticism from lawmakers and parents.

Altman said he stands by the company’s decision to lift restrictions for verified adults but conceded that his messaging “was not well thought out.”

He added that OpenAI would continue to block material related to mental health or self-harm but would not “draw moral lines” for consenting adults.