On Friday, San Francisco police and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed that former OpenAI researcher and whistleblower, 26-year-old Suchir Balaji, was found dead in his apartment. He allegedly committed suicide in his apartment located on Buchanan Street in San Francisco, according to the media reports.
His body was recovered on 26th November 2024 at around 1 PM following a call was made to the police to check his well-being. According to the medical examiner’s office, Suchir committed suicide, and the police officials found no “evidence of foul play” in the matter. He held information that was expected to play a key role in a lawsuit against OpenAI.
Around three months ago, Suchir accused publicly ‘OpenAI’ of violating US copyright law while developing ChatGPT. Notably, ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence program currently used by hundreds of millions of people around the world. Speaking to TechCrunch, the medical examiner’s office said, “The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) has identified the decedent as Suchir Balaji, 26, of San Francisco. The manner of death has been determined to be suicide. The OCME has notified the next-of-kin and has no further comment or reports for publication at this time.”
In a statement, OpenAI said, “We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news today and our hearts go out to Suchir’s loved ones during this difficult time.” In late 2022, several lawsuits were filed against OpenAI by computer programmers, journalists, and authors, accusing the company of illegally stealing their copyrighted material to train ‘ChatGPT’ and increase its value beyond USD 150 billion.
Over the past year, many news outlets, including ‘The New York Times’ in the US and ‘ANI’ in India, have sued OpenAI for copyright infringement. On 23rd October, 2024, Suchir argued that OpenAI was harming businesses and entrepreneurs by stealing their data to train ChatGPT. He said, “If you believe what I believe, you have to just leave the company. This is not a sustainable model for the internet ecosystem as a whole.”
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