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EDITOR'S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26. Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products. "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI. Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide. His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends. Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT. "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what made him such an exceptional engineer and scientist was his attention to detail and ability to notice subtle bugs or logical errors. "He had a knack for finding simple solutions and writing elegant code that worked," Schulman wrote. "He'd think through the details of things carefully and rigorously." Balaji later shifted to organizing the huge datasets of online writings and other media used to train GPT-4, the fourth generation of OpenAI's flagship large language model and a basis for the company's famous chatbot. It was that work that eventually caused Balaji to question the technology he helped build, especially after newspapers, novelists and others began suing OpenAI and other AI companies for copyright infringement. He first raised his concerns with The New York Times, which reported them in an October profile of Balaji . He later told The Associated Press he would "try to testify" in the strongest copyright infringement cases and considered a lawsuit brought by The New York Times last year to be the "most serious." Times lawyers named him in a Nov. 18 court filing as someone who might have "unique and relevant documents" supporting allegations of OpenAI's willful copyright infringement. His records were also sought by lawyers in a separate case brought by book authors including the comedian Sarah Silverman, according to a court filing. "It doesn't feel right to be training on people's data and then competing with them in the marketplace," Balaji told the AP in late October. "I don't think you should be able to do that. I don't think you are able to do that legally." He told the AP that he gradually grew more disillusioned with OpenAI, especially after the internal turmoil that led its board of directors to fire and then rehire CEO Sam Altman last year. Balaji said he was broadly concerned about how its commercial products were rolling out, including their propensity for spouting false information known as hallucinations. But of the "bag of issues" he was concerned about, he said he was focusing on copyright as the one it was "actually possible to do something about." He acknowledged that it was an unpopular opinion within the AI research community, which is accustomed to pulling data from the internet, but said "they will have to change and it's a matter of time." He had not been deposed and it's unclear to what extent his revelations will be admitted as evidence in any legal cases after his death. He also published a personal blog post with his opinions about the topic. Schulman, who resigned from OpenAI in August, said he and Balaji coincidentally left on the same day and celebrated with fellow colleagues that night with dinner and drinks at a San Francisco bar. Another of Balaji's mentors, co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, had left OpenAI several months earlier, which Balaji saw as another impetus to leave. Schulman said Balaji had told him earlier this year of his plans to leave OpenAI and that Balaji didn't think that better-than-human AI known as artificial general intelligence "was right around the corner, like the rest of the company seemed to believe." The younger engineer expressed interest in getting a doctorate and exploring "some more off-the-beaten path ideas about how to build intelligence," Schulman said. Balaji's family said a memorial is being planned for later this month at the India Community Center in Milpitas, California, not far from his hometown of Cupertino. —————- The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement allowing OpenAI access to part of the AP's text archives.
Electrovaya Reports Fiscal Year 2024 Results
Trump says extension of the debt ceiling will 'go down as one of the dumbest political decisions made in years'Commanders TE Zach Ertz addresses his confrontation with Nick Sirianni
AP Sports SummaryBrief at 6:38 p.m. EST
DOJ wants Google to sell ChromeJERUSALEM — A new round of Israeli airstrikes in Yemen on Thursday targeted the Houthi rebel-held capital and multiple ports, while the World Health Organization's director-general said the bombardment occurred nearby as he prepared to board a flight in Sanaa, with a crew member injured. "The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on the social media platform X. He added that he and U.N. colleagues were safe. "We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave," he said, without mentioning the source of the bombardment. U.N. spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay later said the injured person was with the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service. At least three people were later reported killed and dozens injured in the airport strike. The U.N. team members left the airport and were "safe and sound" in Sanaa while the injured crew member was being treated at a hospital, she said. Tremblay said the damage assessment would be made on Friday morning to see whether WHO chief and the U.N. team can leave Yemen. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the escalation in attacks between Yemen and Israel and described Thursday's attacks as "especially alarming," Tremblay said. Israel's army later told The Associated Press it wasn't aware that the WHO chief or delegation was at the location in Yemen. The Israeli strikes followed several days of Houthi launches setting off sirens in Israel. The Israeli military in a statement said it attacked infrastructure used by the Iran-backed Houthis at the international airport in Sanaa and ports in Hodeida, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib, along with power stations, asserting they were used to smuggle in Iranian weapons and for the entry of senior Iranian officials. Israel's military added it had "capabilities to strike very far from Israel's territory — precisely, powerfully, and repetitively." The strikes, carried out over 1,000 miles from Jerusalem, came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad's regime and others learned" as his military has battled those more powerful proxies of Iran. The Houthi-controlled satellite channel al-Masirah reported multiple deaths and showed broken windows, collapsed ceilings and a bloodstained floor and vehicle. Iran's foreign ministry condemned the strikes. The U.S. military also has targeted the Houthis in recent days. The U.N. has said the targeted ports are important entryways for humanitarian aid for Yemen, the poorest Arab nation that plunged into a civil war in 2014. Over the weekend, 16 people were wounded when a Houthi missile hit a playground in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, while other missiles and drones have been shot down. Last week, Israeli jets struck Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people, calling it a response to previous Houthi attacks. The Houthis also have been targeting shipping on the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. The U.N. Security Council has an emergency meeting Monday in response to an Israeli request that it condemn the Houthi attacks and Iran for supplying them weapons. Five journalists killed in Gaza Meanwhile, an Israeli strike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in Gaza overnight, the territory's Health Ministry said. The Israeli military said all were militants posing as reporters. The strike hit a car outside Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The journalists were working for local news outlet Al-Quds Today, a television channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group. Islamic Jihad is a smaller and more extreme ally of Hamas and took part in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel that ignited the war. Israel's military identified four of the men as combat propagandists and said that intelligence, including a list of Islamic Jihad operatives found by soldiers in Gaza, had confirmed that all five were affiliated with the group. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militant groups operate political, media and charitable operations in addition to their armed wings. Associated Press footage showed the incinerated shell of a van, with press markings visible on the back doors. Sobbing young men attended the funeral. The bodies were wrapped in shrouds, with blue press vests draped over them. The Committee to Protect Journalists says more than 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war. Israel hasn't allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza except on military embeds. Israel has banned the pan-Arab Al Jazeera network and accused six of its Gaza reporters of being militants. The Qatar-based broadcaster denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its war coverage, which has focused heavily on civilian casualties from Israeli military operations. Another Israeli soldier killed Separately, Israel's military said a 35-year-old reserve soldier was killed during fighting in central Gaza. A total of 389 soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ground operation. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. About 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead. Israel's air and ground offensive has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry. It says more than half the fatalities have been women and children, but doesn't say how many of the dead were fighters. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The offensive has caused widespread destruction and hunger and driven around 90% of the population of 2.3 million from their homes. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid camps along the coast, with little protection from the cold, wet winter. Also Thursday, people mourned eight Palestinians killed by Israeli military operations in and around Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israeli military said it opened fire after militants attacked soldiers, and it was aware of uninvolved civilians who were harmed in the raid.The standard Lorem Ipsum passage, used since the 1500s "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." Section 1.10.32 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. 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Throughout the year, in our Women, Money, and Mindset columns , we have tackled some of life’s most pressing financial challenges. Every month, we have delved into a financial issue that touches the lives of our readers, offering, each week, a distinct insight from the differing viewpoints of a Certified Financial Planner, an attorney, a CPA, and an executive business coach. From navigating the financial markets and business strategies to estate planning and tools to cut taxes, our goal has always been to provide clear, practical, actionable advice to take to your trusted professionals so you take the next steps to grow your wealth and increase your financial security. In this final installment of the year, the issue is giving, and the topic this week is Charitable Gift Annuities. It is a strategy that can address multiple financial and tax planning issues while supporting the causes that matter most to you. Unlike giving away cash or assets and not receiving anything in return, with a CGA, if you donate to a 501(c)(3) qualified charity, in return, you receive two powerful benefits. First, you can qualify for an immediate tax deduction for part of the contribution. Second, you receive a dependable, fixed income from the charity for the rest of your life. The minimum contribution is usually only $5,000, so it is an accessible planning tool for most people. Before diving into more specifics, let’s see how a CGA can help with some specific financial and tax planning concerns you might have: —You want to give more to your house of worship or favorite charity but are concerned about not having enough income in the future. With a CGA, you can receive guaranteed income for life. —You need a last-minute tax deduction and have maxed out on your IRA or 401k plan contribution for the year. A CGA can act as an alternate retirement plan if you itemize deductions on your return. —You are interested in giving away more to charity but do not want the complications of setting up a charitable trust or naming a trustee. A CGA can be set up in days directly with the charity at no cost to you. —You intend to leave some or all of your estate to charity and would like to have all of your estate planning finalized now. CGAs are especially helpful if you would like to leave your estate to several charities because you can set up annuities with each charity. —You have adequate income now or are not yet retired, but you are concerned about costs later in life, like long-term care. You can receive a larger monthly payment later if you choose a deferred annuity and start the payments at a later date. —If you are concerned about paying capital gains taxes on assets you want to sell, you can avoid or defer taxes if you contribute the asset to the CGA. —If you would prefer your church or favorite charity to have access to some of your contribution now, a CGA is preferable to a charitable remainder trust or bequest that funds after you have died. —If you want to secure the financial future of your spouse, child, or another loved one, CGAs can be set up for the lives of two individuals. This could be especially helpful if you have a child in their 50s or older, and you are concerned about them not having enough guaranteed retirement income. —If you keep most of your funds in the bank but would like to earn a higher return, the charity invests your CGA funds (and generally considered safe) with usually a fixed rate of return that is higher than you would receive on a CD. —You would like to avoid paying taxes on a required minimum distribution, so you are planning on doing a Qualified Charitable Rollover (QCR). New rules will allow you to fund your CGA with a one-time $53,000 QCR. The QCR amount to your CGA will not be included as income on your return, but you can still receive the monthly income benefit from the CGA, and you can defer income further if you choose a deferred CGA. As you can see, a charitable gift annuity checks many financial and tax planning boxes, and it is easy and cost-effective to set up. Now to the specifics. First, you set up the CGA and donate the asset to the charity. The gift is set aside and invested by the charity. You (and also your spouse or other person if you choose a two-person annuity) will receive fixed monthly or quarterly payments for the rest of your lives. The charity can utilize the remaining funds after your death. How much is the tax deduction? The income tax deduction is equal to the amount of the contribution minus the present value of the payments that will be made to the donors during their lives. The charity will handle these calculations for you. How much income will you receive? Current suggested annuity rates range from 4.6-10.1% for those 50 and older, dependent primarily on your age. (In other words, you would receive $4,600 to $10,100 a year on a $100,000 contribution.) For recommended rates and how they are calculated, go to acga-web.org/current-gift-annuity-rates . The amount you would receive is generally fixed and will never fluctuate or adjust for inflation. But it’s also secured by the charity’s entire assets and will continue regardless of how the investments of the annuity perform. Here is an example. Dennis, 75, and Mary, 73, fund a $50,000 charitable gift annuity with appreciated stock that they originally bought for $20,000. They are eligible for an income tax charitable deduction of $17,584. They will then receive a payment rate of 6%, or $3,000 each year for the remainder of their lives. If you contact your church or charity, they will provide you with information regarding the minimum age, contribution requirements, and rates for their annuities. As you can see, a charitable gift annuity is more than just a financial tool-it’s a way to make a lasting difference while providing for yourself and your loved ones. As you plan for the year ahead, I hope this inspires you to take the next step. Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year filled with peace and purpose! Michelle C. Herting is a CPA, accredited in business valuations, and an accredited estate planner specializing in succession planning and estate, gift, and trust taxes. She is also the past president of the Charitable Gift Planners of Inland Southern California.We've seen many examples recently of positive changes in both America's political and cultural landscapes. While we spill a lot of ink at Twitchy mocking or criticizing all of the horrible things that leftists do, we also love to celebrate the political and cultural wins from conservatives. At Christmas time, what better win could we get than seeing a real Nativity scene on display and reading of Scripture at the United States Capitol for the first time in history? If you are like this writer, you might be surprised that this was the first time this has happened, but it seems to be true. While we can't correct those ghosts of Christmases past, we can at least take joy in our Christmas present and have hope for our Christmases yet to come. 🚨New: A Nativity Scene will be displayed at the US Capitol for the First Time in American History pic.twitter.com/H9GbiR1ddZ There is a slight error in the tweet above, as the ceremony already took place earlier this week. The faith-based media site The Heartlander had the full story : A Nativity display along with prayer, Christmas carols, and a Scripture reading of the birth of Jesus was all part of an event held for the first time on the southeastern steps of the U.S. Capitol. Celebrated on Tuesday on the House of Representatives side of the Capitol, the event represents 'a significant victory for religious freedom and the First Amendment,' Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Christian Defense Coalition, said in a press statement. 'This event has ended and won the war on Christmas in the public square,' Mahoney proclaimed. 'For if Christmas can be celebrated and displayed in the most powerful public square in America, it can be celebrated publicly everywhere.' The article goes on to recount how Mahoney was arrested in 2021 for trying to hold a similar event at the Capitol on Good Friday. But a 2024 ruling from James Boasberg, Chief Judge of the United States District for the District of Columbia said that the Capitol steps constituted the public square and that peaceful demonstrations could be held there. On December 10, Mahoney and others celebrated the ruling with a crèche, Scripture readings, and Christmas carols. The news was greeted with a few negative reactions on Twitter. This is absurd and should be taken to court. The first amendment guarantees I as a Jewish person don’t have to see a nativity scene displayed in a government building. https://t.co/46zPE5f4zq The First Amendment says no such thing. Moreover, the court says that, as a Jewish person, you can also have an event celebrating Jewish holidays on the Capitol steps. Some people also seemed to misunderstand that it was the federal government putting on the display, which it was not (but there would be nothing wrong with that either). Despite a few objections, though, the reactions were overwhelmingly positive. This is also a significant victory for religious freedom and the 1st Amendment https://t.co/0Kk0WS0BRS I can’t believe this wasn’t done before...praise God! As we noted above, that surprised us as well. pic.twitter.com/tSfZKsLrbj This is actually the best thing I’ve read in weeks!!!! Absolutely love this!!!! MAGA 🇺🇸🙏🏻 This is awesome. https://t.co/ailE3w5vP4 We think so too. We're winning https://t.co/VHYo9v2vGB The winds have definitely shifted. We can just feel it. Love seeing the impact of the Shift... God ain’t play’n around! 💪 https://t.co/UVlPKEbKXt There is a crèche in front of the county courthouse in my township and the ACLU knows better. This used to not be breaking news but normalcy. https://t.co/F3kR9GOeFB That's a fair point, but we are happy to celebrate a return to normalcy. BASED! https://t.co/ODqABxzJTp God bless and protect these United States of America 🙏🇺🇲 https://t.co/vs2LMSuS1v We can say Amen to that. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11 https://t.co/HvcJzOhAbu It's nice when we can all remember the reason for the season. On the grand scale of political events, this may be a blip, but it feels like an important one. As it's been said about so many positive current events... we're healing. https://t.co/BRVc1Ai8b7 It certainly appears that we are. And that's one more thing to be grateful for this Christmas.