In this March 13, 2014 file picture US film director Darren Aronofsky arrives for the screening of the movie 'Noah' in Berlin. (AP Photo/dpa, Joerg Carstensen,file)
LOS ANGELES --
Director Darren Aronofsky and his production company Protozoa are in development on his next feature film starring Jennifer Lawrence. The project marks the filmmaker’s return to his indie roots and displays his passions as a writer, director and producer.
Aronofsky is known for breaking actresses out of predictable type-cast roles as we saw with Natalie Portman in Black Swan, Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler, Jennifer Connelly in Requiem for a Dream and most recently Emma Watson in Noah. Both Aronofsky and Lawrence are represented by CAA. Scott Franklin, one of Aronofsky's partners, will be producing the film which is scheduled to begin shooting in the spring of 2016.
Aronofsky is also partnered in production house Chromista which specializes in branded content.
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
