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AI News

Police Report OpenAI Whistleblower Committed Suicide in November (sfstandard.com) 52

An anonymous reader shared this report from the SF Standard: San Francisco police found Open AI whistleblower Suchir Balaji, 26, dead in his Lower Haight apartment November 26, SiliconValley.com reported on Friday. Police said there is "no evidence of foul play. "The manner of death has been determined to be suicide," David Serrano Sewell, director of the office of the city's chief medical examiner, told The Standard by email.

Balaji, a former researcher for the company, accused OpenAI of using copyrighted material to train ChatGPT shortly after he quit the company in August. The New York Times profiled Balaji in a story focused on his whistleblowing in October. Multiple lawsuits against Open AI are expected to present information Balaji unearthed as key evidence.

More details from TechCrunch: After nearly four years working at OpenAI, Balaji quit the company when he realized the technology would bring more harm than good to society, he told The New York Times. Balaji's main concern was the way OpenAI allegedly used copyright data, and he believed its practices were damaging to the internet.

"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 an email to TechCrunch...

On November 25, one day before police found Balaji's body, a court filing named the former OpenAI employee in a copyright lawsuit brought against the startup. As part of a good faith compromise, OpenAI agreed to search Balaji's custodial file related to the copyright concerns he had recently raised.

Police Report OpenAI Whistleblower Committed Suicide in November

Comments Filter:
  • Suicide (Score:5, Funny)

    by Calydor ( 739835 ) on Saturday December 14, 2024 @05:02AM (#65012653)

    He was being very thorough, shooting himself three times in the back of the head before strangling himself and stabbing himself in both lungs and the heart.

    • He was being very thorough, shooting himself three times in the back of the head before strangling himself and stabbing himself in both lungs and the heart.

      I know this is the standing joke with this type of high-profile death, but it IS strange how there is never any foul play found during the “investigation” of a high-profile death. Like, ever.

      I have a feeling if I asked a cop what foul play is, they’d show me a video of two ducks fucking.

      • It just means he wasn't playing with any foul, e.g. ducks, when he was murdered.
      • I know this is the standing joke with this type of high-profile death, but it IS strange how there is never any foul play found during the “investigation” of a high-profile death. Like, ever.

        I'm willing to donate some riches to the OpenAI whistleblower. In under 5 seconds, the police will find out what really happened to him.

      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        My guess would be the cops know but are either bought or deeply intimidated, maybe both. The way to handle this is to assign some junior investigators that probably have some shaky record and know they can be gotten rid of easily and hence have no effective protection. I have seen that approach in a different field (IT security) several times: Just make sure the ones that would need to speak up cannot afford to. Big-ego-small-skill people that are easy to manipulate are also a very good tool here.

      • Maybe what really needs to be investigated are the kind of protections whistle-blowers can expect to receive.

  • It is weird.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by luvirini ( 753157 ) on Saturday December 14, 2024 @06:06AM (#65012695)

    .. how many whistleblowers and other inconvinient people die of "no suspected foul play" according to police.

    US starts to at times feel like Russia, where inconvinient people tend to fall out of windows.

    • From what it in TFA, he wasn't the same whistleblower as say the case of Boeing. He voiced his opinions, he did not reveal dirty secrets the public wouldn't otherwise know. He was a critic of openAI who said their business model harms others. A lot of people say the same things. These are not declarations that can reasonably be expected to cost him his life.

      • > A lot of people say the same things.

        The copyright issue could potentially stop LLM progress unlike generic safety complaints.

        LLM companies are taking the Uber approach.

        > These are not declarations that can reasonably be expected to cost him his life.

        If his theory were proved it would cost trillions to investors.

        Who is worth a trillion to psychopaths?

        • Who is worth a trillion to psychopaths?

          I agree but this conspiracy still would need some benefit to happen from his death. But him being dead or alive doesn't change a thing. What he said was common knowledge, and he wasn't going to testify in a trial.

          Also the conspiracy requires a corrupt a medical examiner. Nothing is impossible but the plan becomes increasingly difficult and Occam's razor is a thing.

      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        What he has said so far does not seem to mandate an assassination, agreed. But he may have had evidence or may have been suspected to have evidence that would make an assassination a good business idea. Also, this will intimidate all other possible whistle-blowers nicely. Because nobody really believes the "suicide" story.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      You have to admit that the US service providers are doing a far better job though. Russia is just way too obvious. I mean, come on, "fell from a window", again? Do these people have no professional pride at all?

    • You can see a very strange kind of false dichotomy in social media swarms when you look at coverage about important people committing suicide in the US vs Russia. Check out Reddit. If someone commits suicide or falls to their death in Russia then the top comment will be about it obviously being a murder. If someone commits suicide or falls to their death in the US then the top comment will be about an ongoing mental health crisis.

      The idea is that real people don't exist in that false dichotomy. The media t
  • by usedtobestine ( 7476084 ) on Saturday December 14, 2024 @08:12AM (#65012805)

    Several days ago, the Chief said that SFPD doesn't use AI. Two days ago, SFPD said its outsourcing mobile security (whatever that means) to LVT. And now quoting LVT:

    San Francisco’s partnership with LVT is a prime example of how AI-driven surveillance systems can enhance public safety efforts by deploying mobile units especially in crime hotspots.

    So I think the news should ask the Chief, again, whether OpenAI (the product) decided that Suchir Balaji, formerly of OpenAI (the company) killed himself despite having whistleblower protections after his reports about OpenAI (the company and the product.)

  • Um ... okay?

    So being mentally ill made him even more of a super sensible guy that we should listen to?

  • I don't know this guy at all, but I know that finding out that just about zero of the people out there powerful enough to make a difference give a ratstail about your high ideals and ethics, and the only time they will align with your crusade is when the stand to gain some money or power from such a move - that can make one pretty depressed and hopeless re. the future of the world.
  • No way of knowing (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Mostly a lurker ( 634878 ) on Saturday December 14, 2024 @10:29AM (#65012987)

    There is no way of knowing whether or not this was suicide. Most likely, the police know it is either (i) suicide; or (ii) a highly professional hit made to look like suicide, a crime that the investment of vast amounts of police time would be unlikely to solve.

    The police can legitimately say that it looks like a suicide, with no evidence to the contrary. It allows them to cleanly close the investigation. In the unlikely event that evidence surfaces pointing at foul play, the investigation can be reopened.

  • 7 points by neuroelectron 12 hours ago | parent | context | next [â"] | on: OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco a...

    "No evidence of foul play." What about the evidence that he's only 26 and has a successful career in the booming Ai industry? He doesn't seem a likely candidate for suicide.

    Fair use hasn't been tested in court. He has documents that show OpenAI's intention and communications about the legal framework for it. He was directly involved in web scraping and openly discussing the l

  • by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Saturday December 14, 2024 @12:50PM (#65013231)

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  • The way I'm parsing that is "there wasn't any obvious evidence", and I can believe that. This is very different from a statement that it *was* suicide. And I suspect murder, but only on "circumstantial" evidence, so I feel no great certainty. But I am rather certain that the police went for the easy choice rather than a detailed investigation.

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