Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old Indian-American former OpenAI researcher, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment in recent weeks.
Balaji, who left OpenAI earlier this year, had publicly raised concerns about the company’s alleged violation of US copyright law in the development of its ChatGPT chatbot.
David Serrano Sewell, executive director of San Francisco’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, confirmed that Balaji’s death was determined to be suicide.
San Francisco Police Department responded to a wellbeing check at Balaji’s apartment on November 26th and discovered his body. No signs of foul play were found.
The New York Times reported on Balaji’s concerns in October, where he expressed his belief that AI chatbots like ChatGPT would negatively impact the livelihoods of content creators.
OpenAI confirmed Balaji’s death and expressed condolences to his loved ones. The company is currently involved in legal disputes with various publishers, authors, and artists over the use of copyrighted material in AI training data.
