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[Valedix]

OpenAI whistleblower found dead at 26 in San Francisco apartment | TechCrunch

A former OpenAI employee, Suchir Balaji, was recently found dead in his San Francisco apartment, according to the San Francisco Office of the Chief

techcrunch.com

A former OpenAI employee, Suchir Balaji, was recently found dead in his San Francisco apartment, according to the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In October, the 26-year-old AI researcher raised concerns about OpenAI breaking copyright law when he was interviewed by The New York Times.

“The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) has identified the decedent as Suchir Balaji, 26, of San Francisco. The manner of death has been determined to be suicide,” said a spokesperson in a statement to TechCrunch. “The OCME has notified the next-of-kin and has no further comment or reports for publication at this time.”

After nearly four years working at OpenAI, Balaji quit the company when he realized the technology would bring more harm than good to society, he told The New York Times. Balaji’s main concern was the way OpenAI allegedly used copyright data, and he believed its practices were damaging to the internet.

“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,” said an OpenAI spokesperson in an email to TechCrunch.

Balaji was found dead in his Buchanan Street apartment on November 26, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department told TechCrunch. Officers and medics were called to his residence in the city’s Lower Haight district to perform a wellness check on the former OpenAI researcher. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation, according to police.

“I was at OpenAI for nearly 4 years and worked on ChatGPT for the last 1.5 of them,” said Balaji in a tweet from October. “I initially didn’t know much about copyright, fair use, etc. but became curious after seeing all the lawsuits filed against GenAI companies. When I tried to understand the issue better, I eventually came to the conclusion that fair use seems like a pretty implausible defense for a lot of generative AI products, for the basic reason that they can create substitutes that compete with the data they’re trained on.”

 

[FunkMiller]

There really is not enough protection or help given to people who go up against these corporate behemoths. Dystopian shit.

 

[SJRB]

I'm sure it was all just an unfortunate coincidence and this insanely powerful company with tendrils all throughout governments, agencies and other conglomerates had nothing to do with it.

 

[RagnarokIV]

Another suicide, these whistleblowers must get so sad that they hurt the corporation they worked for that they have to kill themselves.

So sad.

 

[Puscifer]

I'm sure it was all just an unfortunate coincidence and this insanely powerful company with tendrils all throughout governments, agencies and other conglomerates had nothing to do with it.

I was shocked to learn the feds have a custom gpt lol

https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3800809/department-of-the-air-force-launches-niprgpt/

 

[Punished Miku]

Mangioni 1 - Open AI 1

Anyone's game at this point.

 

[Hugare]

"Whistleblower"

Many people who have left OpenAI have expressed the same and they are pretty much alive.

Concerns about data usage and etc. are a common theme for those who leave the company, and they've expressed it publicly many times.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

The manner of death has been determined to be suicide

Epstein, now this guy - I am no conspiracy theorist, but this is kinda starting to test the limits...

 

[Robot Carnival]

plot twist. it's actually the AI that had gained sentient and killed him.

 

[Ownage]

plot twist. it's actually the AI that had gained sentient and killed him.

CBS did a TV series about this a while ago.

 

[Valedix]

plot twist. it's actually the AI that had gained sentient and killed him.

Certainly sounds like the plot of a movie

 

[IntentionalPun]

He wasn’t really a whistleblower was he?

 

[Trilobit]

When people fall out from Russian windows people are very much aware of what actually happened. But when it comes to USA it's like there's a 404 error in many people and they somehow think that modern Americans are too civilized to be up to such funny business.

 

[ResilientBanana]

When people fall out from Russian windows people are very much aware of what actually happened. But when it comes to USA it's like there's a 404 error in many people and they somehow think that modern American's are too civilized to be up to such funny business.

Then one guy named Luigi…

 

[EviLore]

He wasn’t really a whistleblower was he?

Yes, the news stories are being very loose with the truth. He expressed some concerns in a blog post about whether OpenAI's training data was fair use, and said that no one else's probably is either. That's just him stating his opinion.

It's extremely unlikely that OpenAI would have this guy killed. First of all, they're not gangsters. Second of all, there is no upside to killing him and a lot of downside.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Yes, the news stories are being very loose with the truth. He expressed some concerns in a blog post about whether OpenAI's training data was fair use, and said that no one else's probably is either. That's just him stating his opinion.

It's extremely unlikely that OpenAI would have this guy killed. First of all, they're not gangsters. Second of all, there is no upside to killing him and a lot of downside.

Yeah I agree.

I mean the guy basically said his life’s work is going to cause harm to society. It’s not exactly far fetched that he’d kill himself.