Suchir Balaji, a former employee at ChatGPT parent company OpenAI, accused the company in October of violating copyright laws. A month later he was found dead in his American apartment. In an October interview with The New York Times, Balaji shared his disappointment after realizing that OpenAI's practices, especially its use of internet data to train AI models, could violate copyright laws.
In an interview with Business Insider on Thursday, Balaji's mother, Poornima Ramarao, shared her son's journey, his growing concerns about OpenAI and the disillusionment that led to his decision to leave the company.
According to Ramarao, her son believed the company had shifted focus away from its open-source, non-profit roots, and toward a more financially driven agenda. His concerns increased when OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a product made possible by the data he helped collect for GPT-4.
“He felt that AI is harmful to humanity,” Ramarao told Business Insider. Growing tension between Balaji's ideals and OpenAI's commercial strategies ultimately led to his resignation in August.
Balaji excelled at an early age. His mother recalled how he was able to form complex sentences at the age of two and began learning to code at the age of eleven. By fourteen, he had written a scientific article on chip design, and by seventeen he was recruited by the online knowledge sharing platform. Quora. Ramarao recalled: “As a toddler, as a little five-year-old, he never made mistakes. He was perfect.”
Despite his early achievements, Balaji's experience at OpenAI became discouraging. His enthusiasm for the company waned and he initially only shared the “cool” projects he was working on.
His firing in August was a big moment in his career, and when he made his views public in The New York Times, his family's concerns increased. Ramarao recalled their conversation after the interview. She said: 'I literally shot him. 'You shouldn't go alone. Why did you give your photo? Why did you give your name? Why don't you remain anonymous? Why do you have to give your photo?'”
Balaji assured his mother that he was in touch with others who shared his concerns, but Ramarao believed he was too naive to fully understand the dynamics of the business.
On November 21, Balaji celebrated his 26th birthday. The next day he spoke to his parents. “He was cheerful and happy. What could go wrong in a few hours to cause his life to be lost? said his mother.
But then disaster struck. After a few days of no contact, Ramarao started to worry. When police reached her son's apartment, she was told he had died by suicide.
Despite the official ruling, Ramarao and her husband are still not convinced. They arranged for a private autopsy, the results of which have not been made public. The family is now working with an attorney to push for a more thorough investigation into their son's death.
“We want to leave the question open. It doesn't look like a normal situation,” Ramarao said.