OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Tuesday responded to sexual assault accusations from his estranged sister, calling the claims “completely false.”
In a new lawsuit filed Monday, Annie Altman alleges that her brother sexually assaulted her over a nine-year period in the 1990s and 2000s, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The lawsuit echoes claims Annie made earlier on social media in 2021.
Sam Altman acknowledged the lawsuit in an X post on Tuesday and responded with statements from his brothers Max and Jack and mother Connie.
The Altman family maintains that the allegations in the lawsuit are false. They wrote that Annie had been facing mental health issues for several years and were concerned about her health. The Altmans said they have tried to help Annie in various ways over the years, including supporting her financially.
In a statement, the Altman family wrote:
Despite this, Annie continues to ask us for more money. In this vein, Annie has made very hurtful and completely untrue claims about our family, especially Sam. We have chosen not to respond publicly out of respect for her privacy and our own. However, she is currently taking legal action against Sam and we feel we have no choice but to deal with this.
Over the years, she has accused family members of unfairly withholding her father's 401,000 funds, hacking her Wi-Fi, and “shadowbanning” her from various websites including ChatGPT and Twitter. Her worst claim is that she was sexually abused by Sam as a child (she also claims instances of sexual abuse from others). Her claims evolved dramatically over time. The lawsuit also includes new allegations from an incident in which Sam was over 18 years old.
According to a 2023 profile of the OpenAI CEO published in New York Magazine, Sam Altman was estranged from his sister for a long time. Although Altman often talks about his brother, who is also a technology entrepreneur and investor, he rarely mentions his sister publicly. At one point, Annie asked Sam to repost the podcast, but Sam refused, according to the New York Magazine profile. The article also states that Altman repeatedly offered Annie money and gifts, and even tried to buy her a house.
The profile article echoes some of the concerns about Annie's mental health that Altman expressed in his response to her accusations on Tuesday. In the book, Annie is described as having an unstable personal life, and notes that she sometimes moved 20 times a year. The death of her father Jerry in 2018 appears to have been a turning point in Annie's mental health.