OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman, who has become the face of artificial intelligence, is embroiled in a civil lawsuit filed by his sister Annie Altman, who accuses him of childhood sexual abuse. OpenAI’s CEO is seeking to dismiss compensation claims for repeated sexual abuse dating back more than two decades, Reuters reported.
In a St Louis lawsuit filed in January 2025, Annie Altman accused her brother of sexually abusing and raping her in 1997 at the family home in suburban Clayton, Missouri. She claimed that Sam Altman began sexually abusing her when he was 12 and she was three. According to her statement, the tech billionaire molested her as an adult with “recent acts of sexual abuse and rape” in 2006.
Sam Altman denies allegations of sexual abuse
Sam Altman, now 40, denies the allegations and said in a filing in federal court in St Louis on Wednesday night that Missouri’s child sexual abuse law does not allow compensation for Annie Altman’s claims, Reuters reported. He further argued that the Child Sexual Abuse Act limited Annie to “damages for injury or illness” caused by childhood sexual abuse.
According to a joint statement from the Altman family, Annie Altman has mental health issues and “refuses conventional treatment and attacks family members who are genuinely trying to help.” The creator of ChatGPT previously said in a court filing that he had been helping his sister financially, but she began accusing him of sexual abuse on social media after they rejected her extortionate request for “more and more financial support.”
Sam Altman filed a countersuit asking for a $1 payout and suing his sister for defamation over her posts, including a video that said she was harassed by a “near tech billionaire.” The amount of the payout was kept low because he “didn’t want to hurt his sister financially” but wanted a verdict declaring her statement false.
Sam Altman is facing a $134 billion lawsuit from Elon Musk
It also faces trial over Elon Musk’s $134 billion lawsuit against OpenAI. The Tesla boss accused OpenAI of moving away from its mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity and tricked him into donating. In this case, Sam Altman’s trial is scheduled for April 27, in which OpenAI partner Microsoft is also a defendant.
OpenAI, the company behind AI chatbot ChatGPT, was recently valued at $852bn (£644bn), while Sam Altman is estimated to be worth $3.3bn (£2.5bn).
