Massive Silicon Valley mansions home to AI engineers, also known as “hacker houses,” have racked up dozens of complaints, from sexual harassment allegations to out-of-control parties and rat problems, according to a report.
At some of these modern-day tech frat houses, entrepreneurs pay up to $10,000 a month in rent for a room, looking for close access to industry leaders like Sergey Brin, networking opportunities – and wildly excessive parties, according to a New York Times investigation.
Sources told the Times that parties featuring psychedelic drugs and sharing of sexual partners are common at these tech houses.
An eight-bedroom, Mediterranean-style mansion known as “AGI House” – home to start-up founders and engineers at OpenAI and Anthropic – is one of the most prominent AI homes in Silicon Valley.
On its grounds, a car flew through the air during a party while horse-drawn carriages brought guests to an Eiffel Tower replica during another “Midnight in Paris” event.
Google co-founder Brin has given talks at the home while singer-songwriter Grimes – who shares three children with Elon Musk – has performed there, according to the report.
Other top industry names are involved, like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who has advised the Residency, a network of hacker houses.
AGI House is connected to a venture capital fund that is backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, according to the house’s website.
A representative for Andreessen told the Times that he is not involved with the tech house. Representatives for Altman, Brin and Schmidt did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
But police reports show there’s also a dark side to the tech homes.
In December, a woman called police and said she had been trapped at AGI House by a male resident who repeatedly pressured her to have sex, telling her she was old and “would be alone forever,” according to a police report obtained by the Times. The woman escaped unharmed by climbing over a gate.
Yehong Zhu, a 30-year-old woman and founder of AI startup Zette, lived in four tech houses and initially viewed them as near-utopias. But in December 2021, she filed a police report accusing a former member of another tech home called Genesis of rape and assault, saying she’s “far from the only one this has happened to.”
Her case is under investigation.
At one house, the parties grew so excessive that the landlord eventually claimed more than $200,000 for damages, including a rodent infestation.
At AGI House, created by former Google researcher Jeremy Nixon, local police have recorded 37 incidents since 2022, including at least 17 related to complaints about wild parties.
Less than two miles away, another tech home run by Jimmy Chen – known online as the “Spice King of Zanzibar” – is home to equally lavish events, including an event where women went into the pool dressed as mermaids and a jungle-themed party with a painting of a Mayan mural.
Between late 2021 and 2024, police have recorded more than 20 complaints about the house, mostly about noise and parking issues – but also one about a “possible kidnapping” and another noting that Chen had been beaten up at an event.
The house’s landlord wrote in a report that the entire house needed to be sprayed by professionals “as it was found to be infested with rodents.”
Chen said he had paid a damage deposit and hired security guards to screen party attendees, adding that the rats were there when he moved in.
Meanwhile, at AGI House, police were repeatedly called for a welfare check on a male resident, at one point sending an ambulance to the mansion.