A disappearance that calls out
At only 26 years old, Suchir Balaji, former researcher at OpenAI, was found lifeless in his apartment in San Francisco. The police ruled it a suicide and ruled out any criminal act. Balaji, of Indian origin, grew up in Cupertino, California, before attending the University of California, Berkeley. Recognized for his talent in programming, he had already won several prestigious competitions before joining OpenAI in 2020. There, he participated in the development of ChatGPT and GPT-4, projects that transformed the world of artificial intelligence.
Heavy accusations against OpenAI
In August 2024, Balaji left OpenAI, denouncing the misuse of copyrighted data. According to him, the company's models, like ChatGPT, rely on content extracted from the internet without permissions. This would pose problems not only for compliance with copyright laws, but also for the integrity of online information. In an interview with the New York Times, he declared that these technologies destroy the digital ecosystem
by offering generative content that imitates, or even replaces, the original works.
Balaji also pointed out another problem: the famous hallucinations
AI, these incoherent or completely invented responses, which undermine user confidence in digital tools.
A company under pressure
These accusations came after OpenAI was already the target of a series of lawsuits. News publishers, authors like John Grisham and even the New York Times accuse the company of using their copyrighted works to train its models. The plaintiffs believe that ChatGPT and other AIs directly compete with their activities by exploiting their content.
For its part, OpenAI defends itself by invoking the fair use
a concept that allows limited use of protected content under certain conditions. The company says its approach respects the law and supports innovation.
A death that raises many questions
The death of Suchir Balaji casts a shadow over OpenAI and, more broadly, over the artificial intelligence industry. His critiques raise essential questions: how far can we go in the name of innovation? We are of course a bit on the verge of paranoia and conspiracy theory here, but admit that there is reason to ask questions. We can nevertheless very well imagine that Suchir could not stand the legal pressure and killed himself because of it.
Balaji's fight against controversial AI practices will of course not end with him. If the promises of these technologies still fascinate, we can wonder if the future of artificial intelligence will require stricter regulation, or by a new balance between innovation and ethics.
