Editor-DN
A young Sachir Balaji (right) with his parents, Balagi Ramamurthy and Poornima Ramarao. (x)
In October 2024, former OpenAI researcher Sachir Balaji told The New York Times reported that the company had violated copyright law by illegally harvesting vast amounts of data from the World Wide Web to build its generative text models, such as GPT (Generative Pretrend Transformers), which its Overrides the successful chatbot, ChatGPT.
Balaji was 26 years old. found Died a month later in his San Francisco flat.
In his detailed interview with the Times, Balaji accused Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence research firm OpenAI, valued at more than $150 billion, of “destroying” the commercial viability of individuals, businesses and Internet services that created extensive digital datasets used for training. Transformer model
Born and raised in San Francisco to South Indian immigrant parents, Balaji was initially hired by OpenAI in 2020 to work on the prototype for ChatGPT and later help the firm collect and organize training data. of However, after the release and rapid success of ChatGPT in late 2022, Balaji felt conflicted about training his work which he believed was harming the internet and thousands of creators.
ChatGPT set the record for fastest growing user base to 100 million monthly active users in January 2023. (Pexels)
In one Blog posthe outlined what he saw as problems with current models by which AI companies such as OpenAI deal with information on the Internet, ignoring commercial and copyright laws, as well as the socio-economic impact of their products.
“While generative models rarely produce outputs that closely resemble their training inputs, the process of training generative models involves making copies of copyrighted data,” Balaji wrote. “If these copies are unauthorized, it could potentially constitute copyright infringement, depending on whether the particular use of the model qualifies as ‘fair use.’ On a case-by-case basis, no broad statements can be made about when creative AI qualifies for fair use.
It was also a time when creators – independent artists, writers and publishers – were. to consider Ways for AI companies to obtain legal protection against their intellectual property being used without consent or adequate compensation. The lawsuit filed by the Times against OpenAI and Microsoft alleges that millions of its articles were used by the company without its consent. Balaji was named “Mutoli”.
In response to increased scrutiny and backlash, OpenAI defended its methods, to describe: “We build our AI models using publicly available data, in a manner protected by fair use and related principles, and supported by long-standing and widely accepted legal precedents. We adhere to this principle. consider fair to creators, essential to innovators, and critical to American competitiveness.
However, matters escalated when the news of Balaji’s death came, apparently by suicide.
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Parents contest police account, call for FBI investigation
San Francisco police found Balaji dead in his apartment after his mother Purnima Rama Rao filed a missing persons report in Union City, California, where she lives. Before that, she had not been able to contact her son for several days. According to To the Guardian
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (Wikimedia Commons)
Although authorities initially concluded that there was no evidence of foul play, speculation quickly gripped social media users, with many suspecting that the initial allegations had only surfaced. Months later, a whistleblower committed suicide.
Many also drew parallels between Balaji and John Barnett, a whistleblower who raised concerns about safety and production standards at aerospace giant Boeing.
Barnett had. described Before he dies he will not take his own life and if something happens to him it indicates bad luck. Nevertheless, Barnett died earlier in the year. of the government a suicide.
Open AI Expressed Condolences said: “We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news, and our hearts go out to Sachir’s loved ones at this difficult time.”
Balaji’s parents, however, Controversial The police termed the death as a suicide, saying that his son did not show any signs of suicide. Ramarau highlighted inconsistencies in the authorities’ account, saying the medical examiner ruled the death a suicide in less than a minute. Police claimed that Balaji had shot himself and a gun was found near his body, but no note was found.
“We are the parents of the happy, smart and brave young Sachir, who was found dead in his apartment on November 26, 2024. We are trying to find out the full truth, we need more answers. Sachir with his friends 16 Went on vacation between November 2024 to November 22, 2024. On November 22, 2024 at 7.15 pm he was very happy and told about his trip. I was excited. The time of his death is a few hours after the last call with the family. Wrote in a post.
CEO Sachir, watching his body language and confidence. He is shining. pic.twitter.com/t2NHQaVm1y
— Poornima Rao (@RaoPoornima) 30 December 2024
On December 29, 2024, Ramarau further detailed his concerns, calling for an FBI investigation. “We hired a private investigator and conducted a second post-mortem to shed light on the cause of death. The private post-mortem does not confirm the police findings. Sachir’s apartment was ransacked, there was a fight in the bathroom. There were signs, and bloodstains, that he was killed there. It’s a cold-blooded murder, misclassified as a suicide. Lobbying in San Francisco won’t stop us from getting justice. We demand an FBI investigation. wrote In a post on X
Elon Musk, co-founder of OpenAI and a former investor who parted ways with the following company. Disagreement With that Controversial So did CEO, Sam Altman picked up Doubts about the official suicide decision.
(Edited by Des Gowda)
