SAN FRANCISCO, CA. (THECOUNT) — Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old former researcher at OpenAI, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment, as confirmed by CNBC. Balaji, a whistleblower, went public earlier this year citing concerns over potential violations of U.S. copyright law in the development of the company’s ChatGPT chatbot.
On November 26, the San Francisco Police Department was dispatched to an apartment on Buchanan Street for a wellbeing check, where they discovered Balaji deceased. The initial investigation found no evidence of foul play. The San Jose Mercury News first reported his death, with a family member requesting privacy thereafter.
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The manner of death was officially determined to be suicide, according to David Serrano Sewell, Executive Director of the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The notification of Balaji’s next of kin was completed.
Balaji, who had ties to New York, had publicly expressed his ethical concerns about AI training methods in an October interview with The New York Times. He believed that AI models like ChatGPT could harm the commercial viability of digital content creators.
A spokesperson from OpenAI confirmed Balaji’s passing and conveyed condolences. Currently, OpenAI is engaged in legal disputes with various publishers, authors, and artists over the alleged use of copyrighted material for AI training. A lawsuit filed last December by news outlets against OpenAI and Microsoft seeks damages over these issues.
During a Bloomberg event in Davos, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that the company does not substantially depend on any single source of training data, suggesting the legal concerns would not significantly impact their operations.
For individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available at 988 for immediate support.
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