In this Oct. 19, 2015 file photo, director Ava DuVernay attends the 2015 ELLE Women in Hollywood Awards in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
By Jake Coyle, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --
Ava DuVernay's "The 13th," a documentary about racial inequality and mass incarceration in the United States, will open the 54th New York Film Festival.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the selection Tuesday. It's the first time Lincoln Center's prestigious film festival has opened with a nonfiction film.
DuVernay, the director of "Selma," said "The 13th" is about "why we have become the most incarcerated nation in the world." The film traces the country's racial divide through much of the 20th century and up to the Black Lives Matter movement. Its title refers to the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery.
Festival director Kent Jones called the film "an act of true patriotism."
"The 13th" will kick off the 17-day festival, which runs Sept. 30 through Oct. 16.
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
