Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said that Muslims in the IT industry fear reprisals for speaking out

In an apparent allusion to the effects of the current conflict in Gaza, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on Thursday that he thought many in the Muslim and Arab populations in the IT sector were uncomfortable talking about their recent experiences.

On the social networking platform X, previously known as Twitter, Altman said, “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.”

The well-known CEO of ChatGPT, a company supported by Microsoft, asked the IT sector to show empathy for the people in such areas.

In response, a user on X questioned Altman about his thoughts on the experiences of the Jewish community.

In response, Altman said, “I’m Jewish. I see a lot of individuals in our field standing up for me, which I really appreciate, and I think antisemitism is a serious and expanding issue in the globe. I saw much less of that with Muslims.

Human rights activists point out that since October 7, when the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas assaulted Israel and killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli estimates, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have increased significantly both domestically and internationally.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, Israel’s following assault on the territory has resulted in the deaths of over 22,000 Palestinians, or over 1% of its 2.3 million inhabitants.

According to a report released last month by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, occurrences in the US inspired by Islamophobia and prejudice toward Palestinians and Arabs increased by 171% in the two months after the start of the conflict as compared to the same time the previous year.

The US had a 337 percent increase in antisemitic events between October 7 and December 7, according to a December report from the Anti-Defamation League.