OpenAI’s recently reinstated CEO, Sam Altman, says Muslim workers in the tech industry are scared to speak up for fear of damaging their career prospects.
Altman, who is Jewish, made the observation in an apparent reference to the ongoing war in Gaza and the resulting rise in religious and racial tensions.
In a series of posts on X, Altman explained: “Muslim and Arab (especially Palestinian) colleagues in the tech community I’ve spoken with feel uncomfortable speaking about their recent experiences, often out of fear of retaliation and damaged career prospects.”
muslim and arab (especially palestinian) colleagues in the tech community i’ve spoken with feel uncomfortable speaking about their recent experiences, often out of fear of retaliation and damaged career prospects.
our industry should be united in our support of these colleagues;…
— Sam Altman (@sama) January 5, 2024
Islamaphobia and antisemitism have soared since Hamas’ deadly terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which sparked a conflict that has now claimed more than 22,000 lives.
In the U.S. alone, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said it received a “staggering” 2,171 complaints of bias incidents or requests for help between Oct. 7 and Dec. 2, which is a 172% increase over a similar two-month period the previous year.
At the same time, the Anti-Defamation League said it recorded 2,031 antisemitic incidents nationwide between Oct. 7 and Dec. 7, marking a 337% increase in reports compared with the same two-month period in 2022
“Our industry should be united in our support of these colleagues; it is an atrocious time,” Altman continued on X, the Elon Musk-owned platform formerly known as Twitter. “I continue to hope for a real and lasting peace, and that in the meantime we can treat each other with empathy.”
‘Less’ support for Muslims
Responding to a question about his Jewish colleagues the tech entrepreneur— who co-founded location-based service company Loopt before taking the helm at OpenAI—claimed he’s witnessed less empathy towards Muslims than Jews in recent months.
“I am Jewish. I believe that antisemitism is a significant and growing problem in the world, and I see a lot of people in our industry sticking up for me, which I deeply appreciate,” he answered. “I see much less of that for Muslims.”
An example of Altman’s concern may be illustrated by an open letter penned by a group of Google employees published on Medium late last year.
They accused executives and managers at the tech giant of a double standard, allowing for “freedom of expression for Israeli employees versus Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian workers.”
In a message published in October, Google CEO Sundar Pichai addressed the rise in both antisemitism and Islamaphobia being reported and offered support to Jewish Googlers as well as Palestinian, Arab and Muslim Googlers.
“I’ve always been proud of how Googlers come together in moments of crisis,” he added.
Antisemitism has only recently been taken seriously
Altman has admitted he has not always seen antisemitism as a “significant” issue and only recently said that was “totally wrong.”
“For a long time I said that antisemitism, particularly on the American left, was not as bad as people claimed,” Altman posted on X just last month. “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 f–ked.”
While Altman’s stance has shifted, tech CEOs are also increasingly taking the growing hostility against Jews more seriously.
TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew met with 40 top Jewish executives last year to examine how the platform can reduce antisemitic content as well as mitigate bias on the app.
“For every view of pro-Israel posts, there are about 54 views of pro-Palestine posts,” Anthony Goldbloom, the founder of Sumble, a startup that curates public data for a variety of applications, and the mastermind of the TikTok meeting told Fortune. “If TikTok was just a mirror reflecting back what people believe, it shouldn’t be a 54:1 ratio.”
Meanwhile, politicians and executives alike including Pfizer’s CEO recently slammed the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania over their approaches toward on-campus antisemitism.
Fortune has contacted Sam Altman for comment.
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