A former researcher at OpenAI and a whistle-blower, Suchir Balaji, who voiced fears regarding the company's copyright violations in the creation of generative AI, was found dead in an apparent suicide in his San Francisco residence. Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old former employee of OpenAI with Indian heritage, was come to light due to his allegations against the company in his media interview.
Local officials are determining it to be a suicide after finding no signs of foul play. According to San Francisco police that Suchir Balaji was discovered deceased in his apartment on Buchanan Street on November 26.
As per his LinkedIn profile, Suchir Balaji was employed at OpenAI from November 2020 until August 2024. Meanwhile, SpaceX's CEO and billionaire Elon Musk responded to the news of Balaji's death with an enigmatic "Hmm" post on X.
Balaji charged OpenAI with breaking the law
Suchir Balaji's passing occurs three months after he openly claimed that OpenAI breached US copyright law during the creation of ChatGPT, a generative AI program that has turned into a lucrative phenomenon used by millions globally.
The public launch in late 2022 triggered a wave of lawsuits against OpenAI from writers, software developers, and reporters, who claim the company unlawfully, appropriated their copyrighted content to train its system and boost its worth beyond USD 150 billion. In an interview with the New York Times on October 23, Balaji claimed that OpenAI was negatively impacting businesses and entrepreneurs whose information was utilized to train ChatGPT.
The report stated that Suchir Balaji departed from OpenAI as he no longer wished to support technologies that he felt would cause society more harm than good.
