OpenAI whistleblower found dead by apparent suicide

SUMMARY

Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI researcher, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on November 26, 2024, in what has been ruled an apparent suicide. Balaji, 26, had recently left OpenAI after four years, during which he worked on developing the company's GPT-4 model. He became known for raising concerns about the way OpenAI used data to train its AI systems, particularly regarding potential copyright violations. In an essay published in October, Balaji questioned whether using large amounts of internet data for training AI models like ChatGPT without proper authorization could constitute copyright infringement. He also highlighted the potential negative impact on online communities, such as Stack Overflow, which saw a decline in engagement as AI models began answering user queries directly. Balaji's criticisms contributed to lawsuits against OpenAI, including one by The New York Times. OpenAI maintains that its practices are in line with fair use principles.