OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment

Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI employee, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment, with the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determining the cause of death as suicide. Balaji, a 26-year-old AI researcher, had recently raised concerns about OpenAI's alleged copyright violations in an interview with The New York Times. He left OpenAI after nearly four years, expressing worries that the company's technology might be more harmful than beneficial to society, particularly due to its use of copyright data.

Balaji's concerns centered on the potential legal issues surrounding generative AI products, which he believed could not be adequately defended under fair use due to their ability to create substitutes that compete with the original data. OpenAI and Microsoft are currently facing multiple lawsuits from media publishers, including The New York Times, over alleged copyright infringements. OpenAI expressed condolences to Balaji's family, while the San Francisco Police Department has not yet commented on the situation.

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Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI employee, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment, with the cause of death determined to be suicide.
Balaji had raised concerns about OpenAI's alleged copyright law violations, particularly regarding the use of data for generative AI products.
He worked at OpenAI for nearly four years and was involved with ChatGPT development for the last 1.5 years of his tenure.
OpenAI and Microsoft are facing several lawsuits from media publishers, including The New York Times, over copyright infringement claims.

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OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment | TechCrunch

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