Whistleblower’s post on ChatGPT and OpenAI goes viral after his death | World News

A social media post from deceased OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balajiin which he detailed why the ChatGPT maker used the “fair use” argument in response to Complaints described by media organizations as “pretty unbelievable,” went viral after news of his death, which officials ruled a suicide, became public.

Balaji, 26, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on November 26. The generative AI startup, also based in the California city, is facing lawsuits alleging copyright infringement.

He wrote in the post: “I recently attended a NYT Story about fair use and generative AI and why I’m skeptical. “Fair use” would be a plausible defense for many generative AI products. I wrote one too Blog post about the details of fair use and why I believe it.”

Balaji, who worked as a researcher at OpenAI and left the company in August, wrote in an X post in October that he worked at the Sam Altmen-led startup for about four years and spent his last 18 months there on ChatGPT.

“At first I didn’t know much about copyright, fair use, etc., but became curious after seeing all the lawsuits filed against GenAI companies. As I tried to understand the problem better, I eventually came to the conclusion that fair use seems to be a fairly implausible defense for many generative AI products, for the main reason that they can create replacement products that work with the trained ones Data continues to compete,” it said.

Furthermore, Balaji emphasized that it is also important for non-lawyers to understand the law: what it says and why it exists.

However, he clarified that this is not a “criticism” of ChaGPT or even OpenAI, as “fair use and generative AI is a much broader issue than any single product or company.”