The AI party house where Silicon Valley networking has a dark side

The eight-bedroom Mediterranean-style mansion, which borders a golf course in the wealthy Silicon Valley town of Hillsborough, California, has gone through a lot in recent years. 

The mansion is one of the most prominent — and notorious — tech group homes, which have proliferated across Silicon Valley and San Francisco amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.  Today these so-called hacker houses are driven by missions, like the advancement of humanity, and have become critical nodes for the AI industry. Residents are often start-up founders or engineers working at OpenAI or Anthropic. Rent can hit $10,000 a month for a room.

 But what has unfolded in them has sometimes gone far beyond socialising and networking. Some houses have become the sites for sexual harassment cases and rape allegations, as well as infighting among residents, according to previously unreported police reports obtained by The New York Times, court records and more than 20 people in the AI industry.

 

 Parties featuring psychedelic drugs and sharing of sexual partners are common, the people said. One house threw lavish events for the AI community so often that its owner claimed more than $200,000 of damage, including for a rodent infestation.

At the mansion in Hillsborough known as AGI House — named for “artificial general intelligence,” a technology that can match the powers of the human mind — the local police have logged 37 incidents since 2022. At least 17 were related to complaints about large parties and events, according to the reports.

 The others included an episode in December when a woman called the police and told them that a male AGI House resident had pressured her to have sex; she climbed over a gate to escape. Last year, the police were also asked at least four times to perform welfare checks, which typically happen when people experience mental health issues or are considered unsafe to themselves or others.

 “He is making no sense at all,” a caller told the police about an AGI House resident in November.

 Many group houses — The Times identified at least 10, with plenty of others operating quietly — are run by tech executives who see an opportunity to earn profits by creating gathering places. They host events day and night, attracting young people with the promise of connections. At some houses, there are wait lists more than 40 people deep for each room.

 Some of the industry’s biggest names are involved. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, has advised the Residency, which aims to be a global network of hacker houses for “ambitious builders” to live and work.

 Sofie Bukovska, 26, who works at the AI film production company Trippy Pictures, moved into AGI House last year for a few months and said she had quickly realised how helpful it was to her career. She met AI executives and personalities, including Grimes, whom she probably wouldn’t have otherwise, she said. The atmosphere “was something very different from normal life,” Bukovska said.

 Rocky Yu, a venture capitalist who has managed AGI House since 2023, has tried curbing the partying, he has claimed in court documents. Reached by phone, he said he was not aware of any police reports and declined to answer questions.

 The mansion, which is connected to a venture capital fund, is backed by Eric Schmidt, the former Google chief executive, and Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist, according to its website. A representative for Andreessen said he was not involved. The 18,000-square-foot property has become such a center of gravity for the AI industry that Yu and a former manager are embroiled in a court battle over who owns the rights to the AGI House brand.