OpenAI issues statement on the death of former researcher Suchir Balaji, who raised legal concerns about the company's technology

OpenAI has expressed condolences following the death of former researcher Suchir Balaji , who was found dead in his San Francisco apartment earlier this month. The company released a statement Thursday, December 26, confirming they are supporting Balaji's family during this difficult time. The statement on OpenAI newsroom comes exactly a month after Balaji's death on November 26.

"We were devastated to learn of this tragic news and have been in touch with Suchir's family to offer our full support," the statement read. "Our priority is to continue to do everything we can to assist them."

Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said “appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation.”

Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August this year. Oone of his first projects at OpenAI, called WebGPT, is said to have helped pave the way for ChatGPT .

Balaji had publicly raised concerns about potential copyright infringement by OpenAI and other AI companies, particularly regarding the use of copyrighted material to train generative AI models like ChatGPT. His concerns gained attention amidst numerous lawsuits from writers, programmers, and journalists alleging unauthorized use of their work.

OpenAI stated they first became aware of Balaji's concerns through his comments published in The New York Times and that there has been no subsequent interaction. In the NYT interview, Balaji explained his growing interest in copyright law, sparked by the increasing number of lawsuits against AI companies. He also shared his skepticism about "fair use" as a viable defense for many generative AI products in a widely circulated post on X.

Elon Musk , currently engaged in legal disputes with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman , reacted to Balaji's death with a brief "hmm" post on X.