Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old Indian American researcher-turned-whistleblower, was found dead in an apartment in San Francisco last month. He had spoken out against OpenAI’s practice of training its chatbot on copyrighted material scraped from the internet.
Balaji had worked at OpenAI for four years before leaving in August to start working on “personal projects.” His concerns centered around the use of copyrighted data by AI companies, which he believed was damaging the internet and violating laws. He alleged that these models were too dependent on the labor of others and could produce false information.
Several US and Canadian news publishers, including The New York Times, have filed lawsuits against OpenAI over its use of their content to build chatbots. Many best-selling writers, such as John Grisham, have also joined the lawsuit.
OpenAI has disputed Balaji’s claims, stating that their data use adheres to fair use principles and legal precedents. However, the company faces several ongoing lawsuits related to its data-gathering practices.
Balaji’s death on November 26 was determined a suicide by the San Francisco medical examiner’s office, with police finding no evidence of wrongdoing. The OpenAI spokesperson called his death “incredibly sad news” and expressed their condolences to Balaji’s loved ones.
As AI technology continues to shape the internet, concerns over data use and copyright infringement remain a pressing issue.
Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/what-openai-whistleblower-suchir-balaji-revealed-about-the-dark-side-of-ai-7254038