According to a recent report, expansive Silicon Valley mansions—often referred to as “hacker houses” where AI engineers reside—have accumulated numerous complaints related to incidents ranging from sexual harassment to unruly parties and pest problems.
At these contemporary tech houses, entrepreneurs reportedly pay as much as $10,000 per month for rooms, hoping to be near industry titans like Sergey Brin, to expand their professional networks, and to indulge in extravagant parties, as uncovered by a New York Times investigation.
Sources shared that it’s fairly routine for these tech houses to host parties that feature psychedelic substances and the swapping of sexual partners.
One particularly well-known residence, an eight-bedroom Mediterranean-style mansion dubbed “AGI House,” serves as a home for start-up founders and engineers from OpenAI and Anthropic, making it a notable AI hub in the area.
Events there have included a party where a car was reportedly launched into the air, while guests arrived via horse-drawn carriages for a themed soirée resembling Paris.
At AGI House, Google co-founder Brin has spoken to guests, and singer-songwriter Grimes, who shares three children with Elon Musk, has performed, the report noted.
Additionally, well-known figures from the industry, such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have provided guidance to the Residency, a network of hacker residences.
AGI House is associated with a venture capital fund backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, as indicated by the house’s website.
However, a representative for Andreessen has stated that he isn’t involved with the house, and responses from representatives for Altman, Brin, and Schmidt were not received promptly.
Yet, police reports reveal a troubling side to these tech homes.
In one case from December, a woman reported to police that she felt trapped at AGI House by a male resident who was insistently pressuring her for sex and making degrading comments, which led her to escape by climbing a gate.
Yehong Zhu, the founder of AI company Zette, has lived in four tech houses and initially thought they were nearly ideal. However, in December 2021, she accused a former member from another tech house named Genesis of rape and assault, asserting that her experience isn’t unique.
Her allegations are still under investigation.
At one of these residences, parties escalated to such a degree that the landlord sought over $200,000 in damages for issues, including a rodent problem.
Jeremy Nixon, a former Google researcher, founded AGI House, which has had local police respond to 37 incidents since 2022, with at least 17 of them concerning rowdy gatherings.
Not too far away, another tech home owned by Jimmy Chen—who’s known online as the “Spice King of Zanzibar”—has hosted equally extravagant parties, including one where women donned mermaid costumes while swimming and another jungle-themed event showcasing a Mayan mural.
From late 2021 to 2024, over 20 complaints were recorded about this house, primarily for noise and parking woes, as well as reports of a “possible kidnapping” and an assault against Chen during an event.
The landlord noted in a report that the entire property required professional pest control due to a rodent infestation.
Chen defended himself by stating he had paid a security deposit and employed security personnel to vet attendees, claiming the rats were present when he moved in.
Meanwhile, at AGI House, police have been called multiple times for welfare checks on a male resident, which once led to an ambulance being dispatched to the mansion.
