OpenAI’s Sam Altman denies sexual abuse allegations made sister, Ann

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s sister, Ann Altman, filed a lawsuit on Monday, alleging that her brother sexually abused her regularly between 1997 and 2006.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, says the abuse took place at the family’s home in Clayton, Missouri, and began when Ann, whose name is Annie, was three years old and Sam was 12. filing states that the abusive activity was done “several times a week”, starting with oral sex and later involving penetration.

The lawsuit states that “as a direct and proximate result of the prior acts of sexual assault,” the plaintiff experienced “severe emotional distress, mental anguish and depression, which is expected to continue in the future.”

The younger Altman has publicly made similar sexual assault allegations against his brother in the past platforms like Xbut this is the first time he has taken it to court. She is represented by Ryan Mahoney, whose Illinois-based firm specializes in matters such as sexual assault and harassment.

The lawsuit is seeking a jury trial and damages of more than $75,000.

In a joint statement about X along with his mother, Connie, and his brothers Jack and Max, Sam Altman denied the allegations.

“Annie has made deeply hurtful and completely false statements about our family, and especially Sam,” the statement said. “We chose not to respond publicly, out of respect for his privacy and our own. However, he has now taken legal action against Sam, and we feel we have no choice but to address this.”

His response says that “all these claims are completely false,” adding that “this situation is causing immense pain to our entire family.” They said Ann Altman faces “mental health challenges” and “refuses conventional treatment and lashes out at family members who are genuinely trying to help.”

Sam Altman has gained international prominence since OpenAI’s debut of the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT in November 2022. Microsoftthe company was most recently valued at $157 billion, with funding coming from chipmaker Thrive Capital. NvidiaSoftBank and others.

Altman was briefly removed from the CEO role by OpenAI’s board in November 2023, but was quickly reinstated due to pressure from investors and employees.

This is not the only cause that the technological executive faces.

In March, Tesla and CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk sued OpenAI and co-founders Altman and Greg Brockman, alleging breach of contract and fiduciary duty. Musk, who now heads a competing AI startup, xAI, was a co-founder of OpenAI when it started as a nonprofit in 2015. Musk left the board in 2018 and publicly criticized OpenAI for allegedly abandoning its original mission.

Musk is suing to keep OpenAI from turning into a for-profit company. In June, Musk withdrew the original complaint filed in a state court in San Francisco and later filed again in federal court.

Last month, OpenAI he clapped back against Musk, stating in a blog post that in 2017 Musk “not only wanted, but actually created, a profit” to serve as the new proposed structure of the company.

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