Key Takeaways
- OpenAI says the viral Grindr screenshots of Sam Altman messaging comedy musician Jake Schroeder were entirely fabricated, part of Schroeder’s ongoing bit using fake DMs as comedy content.
- The hoax hit while Altman is fighting a federal childhood sexual abuse lawsuit from his sister Ann in Missouri, which alleges repeated abuse from 1997 to 2006 and has partially survived statute-of-limitations challenges.
- Altman, who denies the allegations and is backed by other family members, is pushing the judge to force Ann to meet discovery deadlines and has countersued her for defamation, seeking $1 and a formal ruling that her claims are false.
Sam Altman wasn’t cruising Grindr looking for a hookup with a comedian. But thousands of people believed he was—and the bizarre viral hoax arrives just as the OpenAI CEO’s very real legal battle with his sister moves into a critical stage.
Comedy musician Jake Schroeder kicked off the saga on August 5 by posting apparent Grindr screenshots showing someone claiming to be Altman asking to hook up because he was “lonely and horny.” Schroeder appeared to reject the proposition, prompting the supposed Altman to ask, “Did you use ChatGPT to write that?” The Instagram post exploded, collecting nearly 150,000 likes and launching a string of increasingly elaborate updates.
Schroeder followed with supposed correspondence from OpenAI’s legal team, claims of a Zoom meeting and even an alleged offer of “$500 and a branded crew neck” to make the situation disappear. He also turned the bit into a song. Plenty of followers bought it, with one TikTok commenter asking, “How is this not a bigger story?”
There was one problem: none of it happened.
“The posts are fake. We’ve had no interaction with this person,” an OpenAI spokesperson told Vulture.
The fake scandal arrives while Altman is dealing with a far more serious situation offline. On August 3, an informal discovery conference was held in the federal sexual abuse lawsuit filed by his sister, Ann Altman, who accuses him of sexually abusing her repeatedly between 1997 and 2006, beginning when she was 3 and he was 12. Sam Altman has denied the allegations.
Ann is also scheduled to sit for a deposition on Aug. 17.
That deposition follows Altman’s recent attempt to get a judge to force the case forward. In July, his attorneys accused Ann—who is representing herself—of failing to provide requested documents, schedule a deposition or arrange an independent medical examination.
His filing said Altman “is eager to defend himself against the baseless claims” and argued that the delays were preventing him from mounting his defense.
Ann’s lawsuit has already survived one major procedural hurdle. A judge previously found that some of her original claims were filed too late but permitted her to amend the complaint under Missouri’s childhood sexual abuse statute.
Her former attorneys later moved to withdraw, citing “an unfortunate general breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.”
Altman is also countersuing his sister for defamation, seeking $1 in damages and disputing allegations she has made both in court and publicly. Members of the Altman family have backed the OpenAI chief and rejected Ann’s claims.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault or abuse, help is available. Contact the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit rainn.org for free, confidential support available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
