Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old former researcher at OpenAI, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on November 26, CNBC has confirmed. The San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be suicide and reported that there was “no evidence of foul play” in their initial investigation.

Balaji had left OpenAI earlier this year and publicly raised concerns about the company’s practices, alleging violations of U.S. copyright law in the development of ChatGPT. In an October interview with The New York Times, Balaji expressed fears that AI systems like ChatGPT could harm the commercial viability of individuals and organizations whose digital content was used for AI training.

The news comes as OpenAI faces ongoing legal challenges from publishers, authors, and artists over alleged misuse of copyrighted materials in training its AI models. CEO Sam Altman previously defended the company, stating that individual data sources are not critical to the AI's performance, saying, “Any one particular training source doesn’t move the needle for us that much.”

Balaji’s death has sparked conversations about ethical concerns and pressures within the tech industry, particularly in the rapidly advancing field of artificial intelligence.

OpenAI expressed condolences in a statement: “We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news today, and our hearts go out to Suchir’s loved ones during this difficult time.” Balaji's family has requested privacy.