OpenAI CEO and Democratic donor Sam Altman expressed he has been “totally wrong” about how bad antisemitism has gotten in the United States, especially on the left.
Altman, who is Jewish, donated more than $1 million to the Democratic Party, President Joe Biden, and other Democratic politicians such as Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), according to data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
The CEO of OpenAI, the company that owns ChatGPT, admitted that he didn’t know “what to do” about what he had realized.
“For a long time I said that antisemitism, particularly on the American left, was not as bad as people claimed,” Altman wrote in his post. “I’d like to just state that I was totally wrong.”
for a long time i said that antisemitism, particularly on the american left, was not as bad as people claimed.
— Sam Altman (@sama) December 8, 2023
i'd like to just state that i was totally wrong.
i still don't understand it, really. or know what to do about it.
but it is so fucked.
“I still don’t understand it, really,” Altman added. “Or know what to do about it. But it is so f**ked.”
There has been a rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia in the U.S. since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel which left more than 1,400 people dead and over 200 people taken as hostages.
Students on college campuses such as Harvard University and George Washington University have issued letters casting blame on Israel for the violence that has unfolded and supporting Hamas.
A report from the Council on America-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released on Nov. 9 found that in the weeks following Oct. 7 to Nov. 4, 1,283 complaints of Islamophobia had been reported to the center. This represented a 216% increase.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported a 400% increase in antisemitic incidents, according to an Oct. 25 press release.
People who identify as progressive Jews have expressed they feel alone and abandoned by their friends amid the increased pro-Palestinian protests and as calls for a ceasefire have continued.
Altman reportedly left OpenAi in November, according to a press release from the company, only to return shortly after his departure.