SaMedia, Dec. 13—A 26-year-old former OpenAI employee, was recently found dead in his San Francisco apartment, according to the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME). The manner of death has been determined as suicide.
Suchir Balaji, an AI researcher, raised concerns about OpenAI’s practices in an interview with The New York Times in October. He claimed that the company’s use of copyrighted data was illegal and harmful to the internet.
“Suchir Balaji, 26, of San Francisco, has been identified as the decedent. The OCME has notified the next-of-kin and has no further comment or reports for publication at this time,” said a spokesperson in a statement to TechCrunch.
After nearly four years at OpenAI, Balaji quit in August. He believed the technology would bring more harm than good to society. Balaji’s concerns centered around the alleged misuse of copyright data by OpenAI.
“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 sent to reporters.
Balaji was found dead in his Buchanan Street apartment on November 26. San Francisco Police Department officers and medics performed a wellness check at his residence in the Lower Haight district. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation.
During a gap year after high school and as a computer science student at the University of California, Berkeley, Balaji explored neural networks. In 2020, he joined OpenAI, where he began gathering data for GPT-4, a neural network project.
Balaji’s death highlights ongoing concerns about the ethical use of AI technology and its impact on society.