On November 26, 2024, Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI researcher who was well-known for his strong opposition to the AI behemoth’s policies, was discovered dead in his San Francisco apartment. The San Francisco Police Department declared the 26-year-old’s death to be a suicide because there were no signs of foul play.
In an interview with the New York Times in October 2024, Balaji criticized OpenAI, claiming that the company had violated US copyright law by using copyrighted data to create its well-known chatbot, ChatGPT. He criticized OpenAI’s business methods, asserting that the technologies they were developing were harming the internet ecosystem.
Balaji argued in the interview that OpenAI’s strategy was unsustainable and might jeopardize the internet services’ and online content creators’ ability to make a living. According to the New York Times report, he said he no longer wanted to contribute to what he perceived as harmful technologies when he left OpenAI.
According to a recent BBC report on the incident, Balaji also voiced serious concerns in his public remarks regarding the potential consequences of AI technologies such as ChatGPT, cautioning that they could supplant current internet services with a deluge of inaccurate and occasionally fabricated information.
Balaji earned a degree in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile. Notably, he placed first in the 2017 Berkeley Programming Contest and the 2017 Pacific Northwest Regional Programming Contest while attending Berkeley.
He held positions at Scale AI, Helia, and Quora prior to joining OpenAI in 2019 as a machine learning intern. In November 2020, he received a promotion to member of technical staff, where he remained until August 2024.
Following a series of public conflicts with OpenAI, including lawsuits from writers and news publishers accusing the company of unlawfully using copyrighted content to train its AI models, Balaji passed away. In December, the New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its partner Microsoft, arguing that OpenAI’s methods directly challenged established news organizations as trustworthy information sources. OpenAI has refuted these allegations, asserting that it develops its models using openly accessible data and in compliance with fair use guidelines.
The events surrounding his passing have prompted speculation about the pressures Balaji might have encountered as a result of his vocal criticism of OpenAI’s business practices. According to a BBC report, an OpenAI representative released a statement expressing sadness over the loss and sending condolences to Balaji’s loved ones, even though the company has not directly commented on the specifics of his passing.
