Portuguese film producer Paulo Branco arrives at Paris' court house, Monday, May 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
PARIS (AP) --
This year's Cannes Film Festival is kicking off with a legal dispute, as a Paris court weighs whether the festival can show Monty Python star Terry Gilliam's long-awaited film "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote."
Monday's hearing comes on the eve of the festival's opening on the French Riviera. Gilliam's film is scheduled to close the festival May 19.
But Portuguese producer Paulo Branco, who initially worked with Gilliam on the film, claims he has the rights to the movie, and sued Cannes organizers to stop them from showing it. Gilliam, 77, contests Branco's claims.
It's the latest in nearly two decades of headaches for Gilliam's film, plagued by production problems, funding issues and legal woes. The film stars Adam Driver and Stellan Skarsgard and is loosely based on the classic Spanish novel by Cervantes.
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
