Sam Altman had an unanticipated encounter with a stranger during a recent public conversation with Steve Kerr, the coach of the Golden State Warriors, and Manny Yekutiel, the panel’s moderator. On Monday, the OpenAI CEO was served a legal notice onstage at Sydney Goldstein Theater, San Francisco, from a stranger who jumped in to hand over a document to him.
Although the incident did not escalate any further, many have been speculating about the context of it. As per a report by The New York Post, the subpoena was perhaps related to the upcoming trial of the members of Stop AI, an activist group, at the San Francisco Superior Court for trespassing and road obstruction during their protests near the company’s office.
Lawyer Serves Sam Altman Subpoena at Public Event
The highly anticipated public conversation between Sam Altman, Steve Kerr, and Manny Yekutiel was held at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco on Monday. Minutes into the event, and the conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a male stranger hopping onto the right side of the stage. He was immediately stopped by Yekutiel and one of Altman’s bodyguards, to whom the stranger gave the document.
Besides this, the stranger did not make any contact directly with the OpenAI CEO. the bodyguard handed the document over to Altman, who seemed perplexed but regained his composure soon. The event resumed immediately after with Yekutiel taking his seat on the stage to continue the conversation with Altman and Kerr. The video clip from the event, uploaded by X user @tombibbys, has been making rounds on social media since.
Video of the Sam Altman subpoena incident (don't think this has been shared on X yet) https://t.co/AWdO9RMgC3 pic.twitter.com/uVm8HlX9iL
— Tom Bibby (@tombibbys) November 6, 2025
The stranger was identified as a member of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, representing Stop AI. The activist group has been vehemently against Sam Altman’s decisions that pertain to the development and innovations in AI technology. In their recent X post, the activist group claimed responsibility of the event’s interruption.
The caption read, “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. This trial will be the first time in human history where a jury of normal people are asked about the extiction threat that AI poses to humanity.“
Although the letter was not given directly in the hands on Sam Altman, he would still have to make an appearance in court. Under California law, the the attempt to hand over the subpeona to the OpenAI CEO is valid as long as the notice is presented and left within view.
Stop AI and their Opposition to Sam Altman’s Policies Continue
The activist group Stop AI had been one of the most staunch opponents of the rising trends in technologies pertaining to artificial intelligence. According to their X profile bio, they endeavor to “Permanently ban Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) to prevent human extinction, mass job loss, and many other problems.”
Members of the activist group have been conducting non-violent protests in close proximity of OpenAI’s offices in San Francisco. However, they were recently served a legal notice from the company for their protests. They are expected to appear in court this month.
They have reportedly been attempting to reach out to Altman’s office as well as through an online portal to serve the subpoena, but were unsuccessful. The group’s public serving of the document to Altman has now brought OpenAI under the microscope, amid controversies surrounding artificial intelligence, ethics, as well as accountability.
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