OpenAI researcher found dead in his apartment in San Francisco
Kyiv • UNN
Sucheer Balaji, 26, who recently left OpenAI over copyright concerns, has been found dead in his apartment. Police confirmed the suicide and his family has been notified.
26-year-old former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji was found dead in his apartment in San Francisco. This was reported by CNBC, according to UNN.
Details
It is noted that Balaji left OpenAI earlier this year and publicly expressed concern that the company had allegedly violated US copyright law while developing its popular ChatGPT chatbot.
"The manner of death has been determined to be suicide," David Serrano Sewell, executive director of the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, told the newspaper in an email. He said Balaji's next of kin had been notified.
The San Francisco Police Department said in an email that on the afternoon of November 26, officers were called to an apartment on Buchanan Street to conduct a "welfare check." They found a deceased adult male and found no signs of foul play during their initial investigation, the department said.
The news of Balaji's death was first reported by the San Jose Mercury News . A family member contacted by the newspaper asked for privacy.
Addendum
In October , The New York Times published a story about Balaji's concerns.
"If you believe what I believe, you should just leave the company," Balaji told the newspaper. He reportedly believed that ChatGPT and other chatbots like it would destroy the commercial viability of the people and organizations that created the digital data and content now widely used to train AI systems.
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed Balaji's death.
We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news today, and our hearts go out to Sucir's family at this difficult time,
Currently, OpenAI is involved in litigation with a number of publishers, authors, and artists over the alleged use of copyrighted material for AI training data. A lawsuit , filed by news outlets last December seeks to hold OpenAI and its main sponsor Microsoft liable for billions of dollars in damages.
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