Featured Image Credit: X/TuckerCarlson
Topics: News, US News, Artificial Intelligence
Callum Jones
Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT creators OpenAI, has opened up about the loss of his 'friend' Suchir Balaji who died by suicide last year.
Balaji worked for OpenAI for nearly four years and contributed towards the launch of ChatGPT in 2022.
While he helped bring the AI tool to life, Balaji expressed his concerns about OpenAI's brainchild ChatGPT, and accused OpenAI of breaking copyright laws in a tell-all New York Times article.
The 26-year-old was found dead in his San Francisco apartment just a month after the article was published.
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The medical examiner's office determined that Balaji's death was a result of suicide, and also ruled out foul play.
However, his parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy do not believe their son died by suicide, and filed a lawsuit in February claiming that officials in San Francisco have denied them access to reports detailing the police investigation of their son's death.
Altman sat down with Tucker Carlson recently, when the topic of the whistleblower's tragic passing was brought up.
The CEO said: "This was like, not a close friend, but someone who worked at OpenAI for a very long time. I was shaken by this tragedy. It looks like a suicide to me."
He admitted that Balaji's death initially sounded 'very suspicious' to him when he first heard about it, but he became convinced the whistleblower took his own life once more details were released.
Carlson continued to suggest Balaji was murdered, to which Altman responded: "This is a wonderful person and a family that is clearly struggling. I think his memory and his family deserve to be treated with a level of respect and grief that I don’t quite feel here."
He later added: "If I were his family I am sure I would want answers and I'm sure I would not be satisfied... There's nothing that would comfort me in that. I get it. I also care a lot about respect to him."
Poornima, Balaji's mother, has previously told ABC7 News how she doesn't believe her son died by suicide.
She said: "He made plans to see us in January. That was the last phone conversation he had with anyone. He went into his apartment and never came out. How can anyone believe that there was no suicide note left?
"And there was nobody else on the scene, that doesn't mean they can just come to conclusion. And we have seen the blood shots in the bathroom, signs of fight in the bathroom."
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
You can also call 1-800-985-5990 or text “TalkWithUs” to 66746 at the SAMHSA Disaster Distress Helpline.