In this Sept. 9, 2017 file photo, director and actor George Clooney arrives at a screening for "Suburbicon" during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) --
George Clooney will be the 46th recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award.
The American Film Institute announced Thursday it will honor the actor-director at a gala tribute in Los Angeles in June.
The 56-year-old Clooney may be on the young side for lifetime achievement awards, but this isn't his first. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 2015 handed him its lifetime achievement award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award.
AFI board of trustees chairman Howard Stringer calls Clooney "America's leading man." Stringer in a statement hails Clooney as "a modern-day screen icon who combines the glamour of a time gone by with a ferocious passion for ensuring art's impact echoes beyond the screen."
Clooney's next directorial effort is the 1950s home invasion drama "Suburbicon," which opens later this month.
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
