Sam Altman, the billionaire Chief Executive of OpenAI, is facing serious allegations from his sister, Ann Altman, who has filed a lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing her regularly between 1997 and 2006.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in federal court in St. Louis, claims that the abuse began when Ann was just three years old, while Sam was 12, and continued until she was approximately 11 or 12.
Now 30, Ann Altman alleges that the abuse included multiple acts of rape, sexual assault, molestation, sodomy, and battery. She is seeking at least $75,000 (approximately Ksh. 9.7 million) in damages, along with punitive damages, for alleged injuries that include post-traumatic stress disorder, severe emotional distress, mental anguish, and depression.
In response to the allegations, Sam Altman, 39, took to social media platform X on Tuesday, stating, “All of these claims are utterly untrue.” He was joined by his mother and two brothers, who expressed their difficulty in caring for Ann, stating that she refuses conventional treatment for her mental health challenges.
“Our family loves Annie and is very concerned about her well-being,” they said in their statement. “Annie receives monthly financial support, which we expect to continue for the rest of her life. Despite this, Annie continues to demand more money from us.”
As of now, Ann Altman’s lawyers have not responded to requests for comment regarding the family’s statement or the ongoing lawsuit.
Sam Altman is known as a co-founder of OpenAI, along with Elon Musk and others, and has risen to prominence in the tech world following the successful launch of the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT in 2022. OpenAI, backed by Microsoft, was valued at $157 billion in October after raising $6.6 billion from investors. Sam Altman himself has a reported net worth of about $1.1 billion (Ksh. 142.5 billion), according to Forbes magazine.
