Jakarta -A 26-year-old former OpenAI researcher, Suchir Balaji, was found dead in his apartment in San Francisco a few weeks ago. His death has sparked wild conspiracy theories on social media.
Balaji is a whistleblower, someone who leaks or reports or testifies about alleged criminal acts. He left OpenAI earlier this year and openly expressed concerns that the company allegedly violated U.S. copyright laws while developing the popular ChatGPT chatbot.
“The manner of death has been ruled a suicide,” said David Serrano Sewell, director of San Francisco’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, to CNBC. He said Balaji’s immediate family has been notified.
The San Francisco Police Department revealed that on the afternoon of November 26, officers were called to an apartment on Buchanan Street to conduct a ‘wellness check.’ They found an adult man deceased and did not find any evidence of a crime in their initial investigation.
The news of Balaji’s death was first reported by the San Jose Mercury News. A family member contacted by the newspaper requested privacy.
In October, the New York Times published a report on Balaji’s concerns. “If you believe what I believe, you should leave this company,” Balaji told the newspaper.
He is reported to believe that ChatGPT and other chatbots will destroy the commercial viability of individuals and organizations that create digital data and content. That’s because their data is now widely used to train AI systems.
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed Balaji’s death. “We are deeply saddened to hear this very tragic news today, and our hearts go out to Suchir’s loved ones during this difficult time,” said the spokesperson.
Balaji’s death at a young age sparked conspiracy theories, although their truth could not be proven. “The tragic and predictable death of the whistleblower.” OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji was found dead in his apartment in San Francisco. Please take a moment to acknowledge the courage required to expose the flaws of a billion-dollar company,” said an account.
“The story of Suchir Balaji has one meaning: anyone who wants AI to benefit humanity will be killed.” Greedy people won’t allow AI to be open source. AI will be controlled by a few elites and will only benefit them, not all of humanity,” said another.
OpenAI itself is currently involved in legal disputes with several publishers, writers, and artists over the alleged use of copyrighted material for AI training data. A legal lawsuit filed by the media seeks to hold OpenAI and its main supporter, Microsoft, accountable for billions of dollars in damages.
“We actually don’t need to train the AI with their data.” I think this is something that people don’t understand. Certain training sources don’t help us much,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
