Ann Altman, the younger sister of OpenAI CEO and founder Sam Altman, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Missouri on Monday accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was a minor.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, said the abuse occurred at the Altman family home outside St. Louis from 1997 to 2006 and began when Ms. Altman was 3 years old.
The lawsuit said Ms. Altman had suffered bodily injuries and had “experienced post-traumatic stress disorder, severe emotional distress, mental anguish and depression, which is expected to continue in the future” as a result of the abuse.
Ms. Altman has long leveled similar sexual assault allegations against her brother on social media services such as x. She is represented by an Illinois-based law firm that specializes in sexual assault and harassment cases.
in a <a target="_blank" class="css-yywogo" href="https://x.com/sama/status/1876780763653263770″ title=”” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>statement published in x on TuesdayAltman, along with his mother and two younger brothers, denied the allegations. “Annie has made deeply hurtful and completely false statements about our family, and especially Sam,” the statement said. “This situation causes immense pain to our entire family.”
The statement said Ms. Altman had “mental health issues” and “refuses conventional treatment and lashes out at family members who are truly trying to help.”
Ms. Altman and Mr. Altman did not respond to requests for comment.
Since OpenAI launched the ChatGPT online chatbot in late 2022, Altman has gained widespread fame as the face of the global artificial intelligence boom sparked by the chatbot, which can answer questions, write poetry, and even generate computer programs. In October, OpenAI completed a new financing deal that valued the company at $157 billion.
(The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of copyright infringement of news content related to artificial intelligence systems. OpenAI and Microsoft have denied those claims.)
Ms. Altman's lawsuit seeks a jury trial and damages in excess of $75,000. Altman's attorney, Ryan Mahoney, said in an interview with The Times that the amount was the minimum required for such a federal lawsuit. He said that if the lawsuit proceeded to a jury trial, he and his client would seek “an amount that fully compensates my client for what happened to him.”
He added that they were also seeking punitive damages that would be based on Mr. Altman's net worth.
Mahoney said the lawsuit was filed Monday because of a Missouri statute that allowed survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file a lawsuit up to 10 years after turning 21. Altman turned 31 on Wednesday.
