The American Film Market (AFM), taking place from Nov 2-9, is set to welcome more than 200 registrants from Mainland China, with an additional 75-plus from Hong Kong expected to descend upon Santa Monica. The registrants will be joining the market on behalf of over 90 different companies, continuing to promote China’s rising prominence and international business relations at the AFM.
The AFM highlights continued growth from China and Hong Kong, and will host number of new Chinese exhibitors at the market this year, including: BEIJING HY MEDIA, Beijing Phoenix Entertainment Co. Ltd, Flame Node Entertainment, Kingants Picture, Renart Pictures, Chang Yi Pictures, Eastbound Entertainment, FunAge Pictures, GIMC Global Entertainment Co. Ltd, and Golden Oak Pictures. The importance of US-Chinese media relations and crossover potential between these markets is outstanding.
The AFM’s continued collaboration and spotlight on China will be additionally showcased at this year’s Conference Series, with the annual China Conference taking place on Thursday, November 3. This year’s discussions will focus on the topics of “Producing in China” and “Marketing & Distributing in China,” with speakers including Bruno Wu, founder/co-chairman and CEO of Sun Seven Stars Media Group Limited; Yugang An, CEO, Beijing In-Entertainment Media Co., Ltd; William Feng, head of Greater China, VP of Asia Pacific, Motion Picture Association; and Melanie Ansley, producer/co-executive director, China Hollywood Society.
Following the China Conference, AFM will host a Roundtable, “Hong Kong: The Next Generation of Project Management for Production in Asia,” that will explore co-production solutions through Hong Kong.
Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died
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