“If you believe what I believe, you should leave the company,” he said during a series of interviews with The New York Times. In a new twist in the world of artificial intelligence, former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji publicly exposed the company’s practices and its use of copyrighted data. Balaji, who worked at OpenAI for nearly four years, played a significant role in collecting and organizing vast amounts of internet data to train AI models like ChatGPT. However, as he became aware of the legal and ethical implications of these practices, he decided to leave the company in August 2024. At just 25 years old, Balaji admitted that, initially, he did not question whether OpenAI had the legal right to use the data—most of which was protected by copyright. He assumed that publicly available information on the internet was free for use. Over time, especially after the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, doubts arose about the legality and ethics of such practices. “If you believe what I believe, you should leave the company,” he reiterated during his interviews with The New York Times. According to Balaji, using copyrighted data without the creators’ consent is not just a violation of the law but a threat to the integrity of the internet itself. This realization led to his departure from OpenAI, even though he has yet to secure a new job and is currently focused on personal projects. submitted by /u/XGramatik |