Group tech houses have proliferated across the San Francisco Bay Area in the artificial intelligence boom. One of the most prominent has also racked up an extensive police record.

I report from San Francisco, and I wanted to explore the social scene of the artificial intelligence boom, particularly as the biggest companies — Open AI and Anthropic — race to go public. Silicon Valley has always been well-known for its party culture, but I was surprised to find that many of the events and activities had moved into group tech houses where employees live and work together. I began to research them, including the biggest one, AGI House, and was fascinated to hear how integral they had become to the A.I. community. I was also surprised to learn about some of the problems they have faced over the last few years.