Open AI, the company which owns ChatGPT, said it feels “heartbroken” from the death of its researcher-turned-whistleblower Suchir Balaji. The 26-year-old Indian-origin American had accused the company of violating ethical laws while developing its AI-based model.
Balaji was discovered dead in his San Francisco apartment on his birthday in November. He had reportedly been in the process of exposing the AI giant's internal operations before his passing. His family, however, has voiced suspicion over the circumstances of his death, alleging foul play and demanding a more thorough investigation.
Balaji had stayed at OpenAI for almost four years but quit in August 2023, complaining about the company’s change to a profit-oriented business.
In a post on X (formally Twitter), OpenAI wrote, “Suchir was a valued member of our team and we are still heartbroken by his passing. We continue to feel his loss deeply. We have reached out to the San Francisco Police Department and have offered our assistance if it's needed. Law enforcement are the right authorities in this situation, and we trust them to continue sharing updates as needed.”
It added that it “won’t be commenting further” out of respect for Balaji’s death.
Balaji's mother Poornima Rao reaffirmed her conviction that her son’s death was not a suicide in an interview with businessman Mario Nawfal. She also said that her kid was much disturbed by OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit business model.
“The reason he joined OpenAI was his belief that AI will help humanity,” she told Nawfal. “When OpenAI became for-profit, his concerns began to grow.”
Rao also rued the fact that news media is not covering the incident in an unbiased way.
Thanking Elon Musk for X she wrote, “Thank you for the X platform where we can express facts concerns openly without fear of being killed. When news media is not covering, we have X for us to bring truth to public. Wish TV channel would pick up this unbiased.”