'Offering our full support': OpenAI responds to death of former researcher and whistleblower Suchir Balaji

OpenAI has issued a statement expressing its condolences following the death of Suchir Balaji, a former researcher at the organisation and a prominent critic of AI industry practices. Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment earlier this month.

“We were devastated to learn of this tragic news and have been in touch with Suchir’s family to offer our full support during this difficult time,” OpenAI stated on Thursday. “Our priority is to continue to do everything we can to assist them.”

The company acknowledged that Balaji had raised concerns about the use of copyrighted material in training generative AI (GenAI) models. OpenAI noted that they first became aware of his concerns when his comments appeared in The New York Times earlier this year.

Balaji’s concerns gained widespread attention as lawsuits by writers, programmers, and journalists accused AI companies, including OpenAI, of improperly using copyrighted material to train models like ChatGPT.

In an interview with The New York Times, Balaji revealed that his interest in copyright law grew as he observed a wave of legal actions targeting generative AI firms. On X (formerly Twitter), he shared:
“I recently participated in a NYT story about fair use and generative AI, and why I’m sceptical ‘fair use’ would be a plausible defence for a lot of generative AI products. I initially didn’t know much about copyright, fair use, etc., but became curious after seeing all the lawsuits filed against GenAI companies.”

Balaji’s post gained traction, highlighting the ongoing debate over intellectual property rights in AI development.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and a known critic of OpenAI, responded to the news of Balaji’s death with a cryptic “hmm” on X. Musk is currently embroiled in a legal battle with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over issues related to AI ethics and business practices.