Matt Damon arrives at the world premiere of "Beauty and the Beast" at the El Capitan Theatre on Thursday, March 2, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
BOSTON (AP) --
The producers of the first full-length documentary film about the Boston Marathon say they've signed Matt Damon to narrate it.
"Boston" premieres in its namesake city on April 15, two days before the 121st running of America's most venerable footrace. It will be screened in 500 theaters nationwide starting April 19.
Executive producer Frank Marshall says the Academy Award-winning actor – who grew up in Boston and cheered on the runners as a young man – "is the ideal narrator."
The film directed by Jon Dunham chronicles the rich history of the marathon, which was first run in 1897.
It will touch on the 2013 finish line bombings that killed three spectators and wounded 260 others, but with a focus on the euphoric 2014 race the year after the attacks
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
