By Alex Simon, Stephen CouncilUpdated Nov 4, 2025 (SFGate.com)
A man who claimed to have a subpoena to serve OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is stopped by Manny Yekutiel early into a speaking event with Altman and Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco.Stephen Council/SFGATE
LATEST Nov. 4, 5:30 p.m. The man who vaulted onto the stage to serve OpenAI CEO Sam Altman with a subpoena at Sydney Goldstein Theater was indeed working for the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, the agency confirmed to SFGATE on Tuesday.
The group Stop AI had claimed responsibility for the interruption, as SFGATE reported earlier, alluding on social media to plans for a trial where “a jury of normal people are asked about the extiction threat that AI poses to humanity.” Members of the group have been arrested for blocking the doors at OpenAI’s San Francisco office.
Valerie Ibarra, a spokesperson for the public law office, provided SFGATE with a statement on Tuesday: “An investigator from the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office lawfully served a subpoena on Mr. Altman because he is a potential witness in a pending criminal case. Our investigators first made several prior attempts to serve the subpoena at Altman’s company headquarters and via its online portal.”
Nov. 4, 8:30 a.m. A group fighting against the development of artificial intelligence said it was its public defender who tried to hand OpenAI CEO Sam Altman a subpoena onstage at a San Francisco theater on Monday night.
Altman had just sat down for a conversation with Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr and host Manny Yekutiel on Monday night when a man walked onto the stage and said he had a subpoena for Altman. Yekutiel quickly moved out of his chair to intercept the man from getting to Altman, and security officials escorted him out of the building.
Overnight on social media, Stop AI — a civil disobedience group that has regularly protested at OpenAI’s San Francisco headquarters and other AI companies around the city — took credit for the incident, saying the man was legitimately serving Altman with a subpoena.
“Our public defender successfully subpoenaed Sam Altman to appear at our trial where we will be tried for non-violently blocking the front door of OpenAI on multiple occasions and blocking the road in front of their office,” the group wrote on X. “All of our non-violent actions against OpenAI were an attempt to slow OpenAI down in their attempted murder of everyone and every living thing on earth. This trial will be the first time in human history where a jury of normal people are asked about the extiction threat that AI poses to humanity.”
Group members say they have been repeatedly arrested for their protest actions, and three people were arrested in February at a heavily covered protest after refusing to move from OpenAI’s property onto the sidewalk.
Altman did not physically receive the paperwork the man was attempting to hand him, as Yekutiel took it and gave it to a security official over Altman’s shoulder, who then walked away with the document. But California considers a person to have been served court papers even if they refuse to physically take the subpoena, according to the California courts’ guidance to serving court documents.
Nov. 3, 9:30 p.m. A man claimed to have a subpoena for OpenAI CEO Sam Altman after vaulting onto the stage at the beginning of Altman’s highly publicized conversation with Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr and Manny Yekutiel on Monday.
Within moments of Kerr and Altman joining Yekutiel onstage at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in downtown San Francisco, the man left his second-row seat and bolted onto the stage.
He was holding a piece of paper out in front of him and mentioned “the public defender’s office” as he stood facing the men. Yekutiel was in the seat closest to the man and moved to stop him from approaching Altman. Two SFGATE reporters in the crowd heard the man say he had a subpoena for Altman, who did not move out of his chair.
Security officers from the theater quickly came in and escorted the man off the stage while Yekutiel passed the piece of paper on to a different person over Altman’s shoulder. The nearly full-house crowd at the theater showered the interrupting man with boos as he was walked offstage.
The man appeared to be alone at the venue and was sitting in a seat with direct access to the stage, in the theater’s front corner.
Asked by SFGATE about the incident after the event, Yekutiel said he suspected it was a stunt but that he didn’t see the paper’s contents.
Yekutiel is the namesake behind the “Manny’s” a combination dining and event space that says it intends to be “a space where the community comes together to take part in civic and political life.” Yekutiel frequently hosts speaking events at the 16th Street venue, and this specific event was an offshoot of the typical series, hosted in the much larger theater.
The event started not with any of the scheduled speakers but with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie. The mayor praised both of the upcoming speakers and said the last time he was on this stage, Yekutiel was “grilling” him in a mayoral debate.
This developing story has been updated.
Nov 3, 2025 | Updated Nov 4, 2025 5:44 p.m.
Sports Editor
Alex Simon is the sports editor for SFGATE. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Alex has been in journalism for years as an editor, reporter and adjunct professor, most recently working at Bay Area News Group. He has degrees from Elon University and Arizona State University. When not at a sporting event, Alex enjoys playing sports and finding a good dive bar, and he loves In-N-Out Burger a bit too much for his own good.
Tech Reporter
Stephen Council is the tech reporter at SFGATE. He has covered technology and business for The Information, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC and CalMatters, where his reporting won a San Francisco Press Club award.
Signal: 628-204-5452
Email: stephen.council@sfgate.com
