Who was Suchir Balaji — former OpenAI employee who challenged the ethics of generative AI

Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old Indian American researcher and former OpenAI employee, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on November 26. Several media reports have quoted authorities confirming the cause of death as a suicide following a wellness check at his residence in the Lower Haight district.

Though any foul play has been ruled out, the news has stirred widespread reactions, with prominent figures like Elon Musk, sharing a cryptic message on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

A rising star in AI research

Balaji was a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in 2021. During his academic career, he gained recognition for his exceptional performance in programming contests.

Notably, he placed 31st in the ACM ICPC 2018 World Finals and won first place in both the 2017 Pacific Northwest Regional and Berkeley Programming Contests.

His success extended to Kaggle, where he triumphed in the TSA-sponsored “Passenger Screening Algorithm Challenge,” winning a $100,000 prize.

Before joining OpenAI in 2019, Balaji worked with leading tech companies such as Scale AI, Helia, and Quora, building a solid foundation in the tech industry.

At OpenAI, he contributed significantly to the development and fine-tuning of ChatGPT and training advanced models like GPT-4.

Challenging copyright practices in AI

Balaji gained public attention in October when he criticised OpenAI’s approach to copyright during an interview with The New York Times. He questioned the company’s use of copyrighted material for training AI models, arguing that relying on “fair use” as a legal defence was problematic, especially when such models could produce outputs competing with the original works.

In a now-viral social media post, Balaji expressed deep skepticism about the legal and ethical dimensions of generative AI products.

Reports suggest he was later named in a court filing related to a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, with the company agreeing to review files tied to his concerns.

A whistleblower on AI ethics

Balaji’s ethical apprehensions extended beyond copyright issues.

In an October blog post, he highlighted the broader societal risks of AI technology, cautioning that its harms could outweigh its potential benefits.

His criticisms have reignited conversations around the moral responsibilities of AI companies and the pressures faced by researchers in the high-stakes tech industry.