Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old former OpenAI researcher and whistleblower, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Buchanan Street, according to multiple reports. The San Francisco Police Department and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) confirmed the death, with the medical examiner ruling it a suicide.


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Balaji, who worked at OpenAI for nearly four years, was discovered deceased in his apartment on November 26. A spokesperson for the OCME stated, “The manner of death has been determined to be suicide. The next-of-kin have been notified, and there are no further comments at this time.” Police officials added that they found no evidence of foul play.


Whistleblowing Allegations Against OpenAI


In October, Balaji publicly raised concerns about OpenAI’s practices, accusing the company of breaking copyright laws with its generative AI products like ChatGPT. He expressed these concerns in interviews and posts on social media, where he shared his apprehensions about the ethical implications of the technology.


In a widely circulated post on X (formerly Twitter), Balaji wrote, “I was at OpenAI for nearly 4 years and worked on ChatGPT for the last 1.5 of them. I initially didn't know much about copyright, fair use, etc. but became curious after seeing all the lawsuits against GenAI companies."


He further explained his concerns: “Fair use seems like a pretty implausible defence 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.”


Who Was Suchir Balaji?


Balaji grew up in Cupertino, California, and studied computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He joined OpenAI after graduation and played a significant role in developing ChatGPT, working on the project for 1.5 years before resigning. He told The New York Times that he left OpenAI because he believed the technology had the potential to cause more harm than good to society.