A 26-year-old OpenAI researcher who had recently spoken out against the company’s practices has been found dead in a San Francisco apartment. Suchir Balaji was discovered on November 26, with police ruling his death as suicide and finding no evidence of foul play.
Balaji had publicly criticized OpenAI’s use of copyrighted data to develop its ChatGPT online chatbot, alleging that it violated US copyright law. He claimed that the technology was damaging the internet and left the company in August after working there for four years.
Balaji had been involved in a number of lawsuits related to OpenAI’s data-gathering practices, including one filed by US and Canadian news publishers against the company over its alleged use of news articles to train its software. The lawsuit claims that OpenAI was illegally using copyrighted material without permission.
OpenAI has maintained that its models are trained on publicly available data and are grounded in fair use and international copyright principles. The company has stated that it is “devastated” by Balaji’s death and is offering support to his loved ones.
If you or someone you know has been affected by issues related to this story, help and support is available via the Samaritans (988 in the US) or the BBC Action Line.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd0el3r2nlko