Woman Climbed Gate to Escape Notorious AI Hacker House After Repeated Pressure for Sex

A woman escaped from AGI House, an AI group residence in Hillsborough, California, by climbing over a gate after a male resident repeatedly pressured her to have sex, according to a police report reviewed by The New York Times.

The woman called the Hillsborough police station at 2.22am while riding in a Lyft, telling officers she had been trapped at the property by the resident, according to the report. The man told her she was old and 'would be alone forever', according to police files reviewed by the paper. He was 'persistent in attempting to convince' the woman 'to have sex with him, and she repeatedly declined.'

She managed to get away safely by climbing over a gate.

The incident was among 37 incidents logged by Hillsborough police at AGI House since 2022. At least 17 were related to complaints about large parties and events, according to police reports.

Dark Side Of AI Hacker Houses

AGI House, short for artificial general intelligence, is one of the most prominent tech group homes to emerge during the AI boom, according to The New York Times. The paper's investigation found that some group tech houses have also become sites of sexual harassment cases and rape allegations, based on police reports, court records and interviews with more than 20 people in the AI industry.

The houses have become networking hubs for startup founders, engineers and other technology workers, with some residents paying as much as $10,000 a month for a room. The New York Times identified at least 10 such group houses in the San Francisco Bay Area, while noting that others operate more quietly.

At AGI House, police were also asked at least four times to perform welfare checks in 2025. In June, officers responded after someone raised concerns about a male resident. About three weeks later, police were called for another welfare check, and by November, an ambulance had also been sent to the property.

Origins And Growth Of Tech Communes

Jeremy Nixon, a 33-year-old former Google researcher who had established other tech group homes, launched the Hillsborough property as NeoGenesis in 2022 with Andrej Karpathy, an OpenAI co-founder, according to court records. Nixon wanted the property to be 'a community house and space for some of the most exceptional founders, researchers, scientists and technologists', according to court documents.

Nixon had previously co-founded a San Francisco hacker house called Genesis around 2019. The Genesis house became a hub for parties and events, where 19-year-old tech entrepreneur Eric Zhu said he used to sneak into gatherings when he was about 13.

'It was pretty crazy,' he shared with the publication.

Yehong Zhu, 30, who is not related to Eric Zhu, filed a police report in December 2021 accusing a former Genesis house member of rape and assault, according to a copy of the report reviewed by The New York Times. Her case remains under investigation.

Zhu said the Genesis resident she accused had left the house and could not be located. She had lived in four tech houses and said her perception of them as ideal environments for entrepreneurs changed after her experience.

'I'm far from the only one this has happened to,' Zhu, founder of AI start-up Zette, told the publication.

In 2022, Nixon rented the Hillsborough mansion to create NeoGenesis. Unlike some other group houses, where rent was relatively cheap, residents at NeoGenesis paid up to $10,000 a month for a room, according to people who lived there.

After OpenAI released ChatGPT in 2022, Nixon said he came up with the idea to rebrand NeoGenesis as AGI House, according to a lawsuit he filed against Rocky Yu, the property's current manager. Nixon's concept called for '20 A.I. hackers, living in the same epic house for three months, 20 weekend hackathons, daily dinners with A.I. royalty, ship code again and again and again,' according to notes released in court.

Industry Influence And Hidden Risks

The group houses have also attracted prominent figures from the technology industry. Sam Altman, OpenAI's chief executive, has advised the Residency, which aims to operate a global network of hacker houses for 'ambitious builders' to live and work.

AGI House has also hosted prominent technology figures, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who has given talks at the property. Singer-songwriter Grimes has also performed there.

The networking opportunities have been a major attraction for residents. Sofie Bukovska, who works at AI film production company Trippy Pictures, told The New York Times that she lived at AGI House for several months and met AI executives and personalities there, including Grimes.

AGI House manager Rocky Yu, a venture capitalist who has run the property since 2023, has said in court documents that he tried to curb the partying. Reached by phone by The New York Times, Yu said he was not aware of any police reports and declined to answer questions.

Yu is also involved in a legal dispute with Nixon over ownership of the AGI House brand. Nixon and Yu have each made competing claims about the origins and ownership of the AGI House concept in court filings.

The New York Times reported that AGI House is connected to a venture capital fund and that its website says it is backed by former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. A representative for Andreessen said he was not involved.

Yu has also said he has tried to distance AGI House from its 'party house image'. In a follow-up email to The New York Times, he disputed describing AGI House as a hacker house, saying it does not offer an official 'residency' programme.

The police records and allegations described above do not establish that all AI group houses operate in the same way. However, The New York Times investigation found that some have faced police complaints, sexual-harassment cases, rape allegations and disputes linked to their parties and residential operations.