San Francisco authorities report OpenAI whistleblower found deceased in their apartment.
mercurynews.com/web
SAN FRANCISCO — Authorities have confirmed the death of Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old former OpenAI researcher and whistleblower who had gained attention for exposing concerns about the company's business model, which is now the subject of multiple lawsuits.
Balaji was found dead in his apartment on Buchanan Street on Nov. 26, according to the San Francisco Police Department and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Police responded to his Lower Haight residence around 1 p.m. following a welfare check request, a police spokesperson reported.
The medical examiner’s office determined the manner of death to be suicide and police officials this week said there is “currently, no evidence of foul play.”
Information he held was expected to play a key part in lawsuits against the San Francisco-based company.
Balaji’s death comes three months after he publicly accused OpenAI of violating U.S. copyright law while developing ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence program that has become a moneymaking sensation used by hundreds of millions of people across the world.
Its public release in late 2022 spurred a torrent of lawsuits against OpenAI from authors, computer programmers and journalists, who say the company illegally stole their copyrighted material to train its program and elevate its value past $150 billion.