Former OpenAI Researcher Suchir Balaji Found Dead in San Francisco

Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old former researcher at OpenAI, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment in late November. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has determined the cause of death to be suicide, and Balaji's next of kin have been notified.

San Francisco Police were called to conduct a welfare check on November 26 at an apartment on Buchanan Street, where they discovered Balaji's body. Initial investigations revealed no evidence of foul play.

Balaji had left OpenAI earlier in the year and publicly raised concerns about the company allegedly violating U.S. copyright law in the development of its popular ChatGPT chatbot. In an October interview with The New York Times, he expressed his belief that AI technologies like ChatGPT could undermine the commercial viability of those who produce the digital data used to train these systems. “If you believe what I believe, you have to just leave the company,” he stated.

OpenAI has confirmed Balaji's death and expressed deep sorrow over the news, stating, “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.”

The company is currently embroiled in legal disputes with various publishers, authors, and artists over alleged copyright infringement related to AI training data. A lawsuit filed by news outlets last December seeks to hold OpenAI and its principal backer, Microsoft, accountable for billions in damages. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has asserted that the company does not necessarily need to train on any specific copyrighted data source to advance its technology