On 26th November 2024, a young AI expert of Indian origin named Suchir Balaji, was found dead in his apartment in San Francisco, on the day after he was reportedly named as a witness in a lawsuit against the AI companies, by claiming that the dawn of ‘Generative AI’ might not be as favourable as it is perceived.
Previously he reported about OpenAI’s use of illegal infringement of copyright practices in the development of their AI LLM (Large Language Model), ChatGPT. Many believe ChatGPT has improvements to common life with its aid in daily tasks and even jobs for many people, like aiding with education for students and helping software developers with their code, but some like ‘Suchir’, believe that in the long run the same AI models we use today will bring us more harm than good.
His first connection with OpenAI happened in 2018 as an internship for 4 months. Later in 2020, he went on to join as a member of the technical staff assigned with the task of training and building various AI models, including ChatGPT. But gradually with time he realised that his work may bring more harm than good to the society, with concerns of fair use of the datasets being used to train all generative AI models. Immediately he stepped out and tendered his resignation in OpenAI in August 2024.
Referring to the issues of how most of the Generative AI companies infringe upon copyrights to train their AI models, on 23rd October 2024, ‘Suchir’ wrote a personal blog on his LinkedIn page. He also approached the New York Times himself to get a news report published on this situation and help people understand that not everything is as good as it seems to be.
The sudden gain of traction of ChatGPT right after its release back in November 2022, has led to many other companies developing their own Generative AI models, like Microsoft’s CoPilot, Apple’s Apple Intelligence, Meta’s Meta AI, ‘X’ platform has an upcoming AI being prepared as well and various other models from OpenAI are yet to come out.
This sudden burst of AI models in the economy brings an increased need of awareness about the companies’ practices among people.
Coming back to the case, the police and initial autopsy ruled it as a case of suicide. But what’s intriguing to see is how it is claimed that he committed suicide just a day after he was named in a copyright lawsuit relating to the very problem he was combatting.
Suchir’s mother stated in a post on X dated 15 December 2024, that it could not be a suicide as he had just been on a vacation trip celebrating his birthday with his friends and had talked to his parents whilst being very upbeat, giving off no indications that he would be committing a suicide soon. She also stated in a post on X dated 29 December that they hired a private investigator and did a second autopsy neither of which confirmed the case and the cause of death.
Suchir's parents put forward, “Suchir’s apartment was ransacked, and signs of struggle in the bathroom are evident. It looks like someone would have hit him based on blood spots. It’s a cold blooded murder declared by authorities as suicide.”
Suchir’s mother, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, highlights the importance of this case against OpenAI as he had documents against the startup and was a Custodian Witness. Carlson also highlighted suspicious evidence: “There’s blood all over the apartment and a piece of wig covered in blood- it’s not his wig. You don’t need to be a detective to imagine that someone committing a murder might wear a wig.”
As we go deeper in this case the more suspicious it gets with the aspects of how OpenAI, being one of the most powerful companies in the world, can go to any extent to protect themselves.
Suchir had plans to take legal action against OpenAI, which he had discussed with his parents, he believed that the practices of these companies are unethical with the data usage, they bring damage to the original content creators and he advocated for strict regulations in this sector.
He also had corroborative documents with evidence in support of his statements which are now reported to have been tampered with. Suchir’s parents have reported that his desktop was accessed after his death by an unknown individual and the documents related to his case had been tampered.
Figures like Ilya Sutsveker, once a Co-Founder of OpenAI, had also left the company back in May 2024, with him also now being a crucial figure and witness in the cases against the company. This highlights how wrong the company’s practices are, making a Co-Founder willingly leave his own company and spend the rest of his life battling against the very company he created. He was reported to have an extreme amount of security with him during his recent court hearings. This case is highly crucial for the whole AI industry as it could bring major changes altogether.
Now a very fundamental question arises, referring to this case as a triggering point. Is this myth becoming true that Generative AI is meant to bring harm to humanity?
Who knows people like Suchir Balaji, some people who are taking the stand for righteousness might put their lives in danger for speaking the truth.
Written by Ishan Jain
