OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji passes away

Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old Indian-American former researcher at OpenAI, was discovered deceased in his San Francisco apartment on November 26th. While authorities have not yet confirmed the cause of death, the San Francisco Police Department has stated that there is currently no evidence of foul play. Balaji, who had been employed at OpenAI for four years, departed from the company amidst growing allegations against it.
Balaji's passing has garnered significant attention given his recent public accusations against OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT. In an interview with The New York Times, Balaji asserted that OpenAI had infringed upon U.S. copyright laws by utilizing copyrighted material without authorization to train its generative AI models. He characterized his decision to leave the company as an ethical stand, stating, "If you believe what I believe, you have to simply leave the company."

Balaji had also voiced his concerns via a tweet, clarifying that he was the one who initiated contact with The New York Times to share his perspective. He described himself as possessing unique insights into the development of these AI systems. "I believed I had an interesting viewpoint as someone who has been working on these systems since before the current generative AI boom," he wrote.