OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment following apparent suicide attempt

This story is about suicide. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please contact Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

A former OpenAI employee and whistleblower, Suchir Balaji, was recently found dead in his apartment in San Francisco, California.

The San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner identified Balaji, 26, as the deceased, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The circumstances of the death have been classified as suicide.

The medical examiner said he informed Balaji's family.

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The OpenAI ChatGPT logo is seen on a mobile phone in this photo illustration on May 30, 2023, in Warsaw, Poland. (Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Balaji was found dead in his Buchanan Street apartment on Nov. 26, a San Francisco Police Department spokesperson told the outlet. First responders were called to his home to perform a wellness check, and no evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation.

“We are devastated to hear this incredibly sad news today and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time,” an OpenAI spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

This comes after Balaji, an AI researcher, expressed concerns about OpenAI's violation of copyright law in an interview with The New York Times in October.

A man is seen using the OpenAI ChatGPT artificial intelligence chat website in this photo illustration on July 18, 2023. (Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Balaji resigned from OpenAI after working there for nearly four years when he learned the technology would bring more harm than good to society, he told the newspaper, noting that his main concern was the how the company allegedly used copyright data, saying he believed its practices were harmful to the Internet.

“I worked at OpenAI for almost 4 years and worked on ChatGPT for the last 1.5 months,” Balaji wrote in October on social media platform thing when it comes to copyright, fair use, etc., but I became curious after seeing all the lawsuits filed against GenAI companies.

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The OpenAI logo is displayed on a laptop in Beijing, China, Friday, February 24, 2023. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“When I tried to understand the problem better, I finally came to the conclusion that fair use seems to be a rather implausible defense for many generative AI products, for the fundamental reason that they can create substitutes that compete with the data they use,” his message continues.

OpenAI and Microsoft are currently facing several lawsuits from media outlets that accuse OpenAI of violating copyright law.

Fox News Digital has contacted the medical examiner and San Francisco police.

Sarah Rumpf-Whitten of Fox News contributed to this report.