OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment

Former OpenAI employee Suchir Balaji was recently found dead in his San Francisco apartment, according to the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In October, the 26-year-old artificial intelligence researcher raised concerns about OpenAI violating copyright law during an interview. The New York Times.

“The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) has identified the deceased as Suchir Balaji, 26, of San Francisco. The manner of death was determined to be suicide,” the spokesperson said in a statement to TechCrunch. “OCME has notified next of kin and has no further comment or report for publication at this time.”

After nearly four years at OpenAI, Balaji left the company when he realized the technology would do more harm than good to society, the New York Times reported. Balaji’s main concern was how OpenAI was using copyrighted information, and he believed its practices were harming the internet.

“We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news today, and our hearts go out to Suchir’s loved ones during this difficult time,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in an email to TechCrunch.

Balaji was found dead in his apartment on Buchanan Street on November 26, according to San Jose Mercury news. Police were reportedly called to the former OpenAI researcher’s residence in the city’s Lower Haight district to check on his health.

“I’ve been at OpenAI for about 4 years, and the last 1.5 of those at ChatGPT,” Balaji said. tweet from October. “I’ll start with copyright, fair use, etc. didn’t know much about, but after seeing all the lawsuits filed against GenAI companies, I got interested. As I tried to understand the issue better, I eventually concluded that fair use seems like a pretty implausible defense for many generative AI products, since they can create substitutes that compete with the data they’re trained on. open.”

OpenAI and Microsoft are currently involved in several ongoing lawsuits filed by newspapers and media publishers. including the New York Timeswhich claims that the generative AI startup is violating copyright law.

The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

This is a developing story…