Three months after publicly accusing his former employer, OpenAI, of infringing on copyrights when training its AI chatbot, 26-year-old Suchir Balaji was found dead in his Lower Haight apartment.
Balaji was found by San Francisco police performing a welfare check at his Buchanan Street apartment two days before Thanksgiving, on November 26, as Bay Area News Group reports.
The medical examiner’s office deemed his death a suicide suicide, and the SFPD said this week that they have no evidence of foul play.
Balaji spoke out t0 the New York Times in October, telling the paper that as a researcher at OpenAI, it had been his job to gather information on the internet to feed into the ChatGPT model, and he soon began to believe that the company was running afoul of the "fair use" doctrine for using copyrighted material — something that has not been tested in the courts, though there are multiple lawsuits now pending against the company.
He also said he had left OpenAI in August because he no longer believed that artificial intelligence will provide more benefit than harm to humanity.
"If you believe what I believe, you have to just leave the company,” Balaji told the Times. He also said of the scouring of copyrighted material to feed such models, "this is not a sustainable model for the internet ecosystem as a whole."
OpenAI has seen a significant exodus of executives over the last year amid some apparent internal turmoil. In September, OpenAI announced it would be becoming a for-profit enterprise, after being founded as nonprofit.
Balaji was also a key player in the New York Times' own lawsuit against OpenAI for the use of its copyrighted material. Balaji was reportedly one of 12 individuals, most of them current or former OpenAI employees, who had "unique and relevant documents" in support of the paper's case.
News of Balaji's death comes as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was discovered to be among the Silicon Valley billionaires cozying up to President-elect Trump and ponying up $1 million for his inauguration celebration.
Previously: Some Upheaval at OpenAI as Company Announces Plan to Become a For-Profit Enterprise
If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline offers free, round-the-clock support, information and resources for help. Call or text the lifeline at 988, or see the 988lifeline.org website, where chat is available.