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    Ex-CBS CEO Les Moonves to challenge severance denial

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1649 Views
    In this July 29, 2013, file photo, Les Moonves arrives at the CBS, CW and Showtime TCA party at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
    NEW YORK (AP) --

    Former CBS CEO Les Moonves is fighting the company's decision to deny his $120 million severance package following his firing over sexual misconduct allegations.

    Moonves is demanding binding arbitration proceedings to challenge the decision, CBS announced in a filing Thursday with the Security Exchange Commission.

    The company's board of directors denied Moonves his severance last month after concluding that he violated company policy and did not cooperate with an investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations.

    Moonves, one of television's most influential figures, was ousted in September after allegations from women who said he subjected them to mistreatment including forced oral sex, groping and retaliation if they resisted.

    The former CEO's legal team declined to comment Thursday. His lawyer, Andrew Levander, has previously said that Moonves cooperated fully with the investigation, which was conducted by two outside law firms. Moonves has also denied any allegations of non-consensual sex.

    Moonves, who had earned praise for turning around the fortunes of CBS when he took over as entertainment chief in 1995, had been one of the highest-paid executives in the nation, making about $70 million in each of the past two years.

    Tags:CBSLes Moonvessexual harassment



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    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... Read More

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