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    Obama to award arts medals to Sally Field, Stephen King

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments761 Views
    In this March 14, 2015 file photo, Sally Field attends the "Hello, My Name is Doris" red carpet during the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Photo by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP)

    By Darlene Superville

    WASHINGTON (AP) --

    Actress Sally Field and author Stephen King are among luminaries set to receive a National Medal of Arts or a National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama.

    Obama will bestow the honors on 18 people and three institutions during a White House ceremony on Thursday.

    Field, of Los Angeles, is receiving an arts medal for showing dignity, empathy and fearlessness in performances that have touched audiences worldwide, as well as for showing those same qualities in her off-screen advocacy for women, LGBT rights and public health.

    King, of Bangor, Maine, is also receiving an arts medal for combining storytelling with analysis of human nature, and for thrilling readers through decades of work.

    Alice Waters, chef-owner of the organic restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, is receiving a National Humanities Medal for her work as a champion of a holistic approach to eating and health.

    The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities were created by Congress in 1965 to provide grants to support artistic excellence and creativity, and to advance the understanding and appreciation of history, literature, philosophy and language. Both independent agencies are celebrating their 50th anniversaries this year.

    The remaining recipients are:

    National Medal of Arts:

    -John Baldessari, visual artist, Venice, California

    -Ping Chong, theater director, choreographer and video and installation artist, New York City

    -Miriam Colón, actress, theater founder and director, New York City

    -The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, New York City

    -Ann Hamilton, visual artist, Columbus, Ohio

    -Meredith Monk, composer, singer and performer, New York City

    -George Shirley, tenor, Ann Arbor, Michigan

    -University Musical Society, Performing Arts Presenter, Ann Arbor, Michigan

    -Tobias Wolff, author and educator, Stanford, California

    National Humanities Medal:

    -Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, historian, Auburndale, Massachusetts

    -Annie Dillard, author, Key West, Florida

    -Clemente Course in the Humanities, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York

    -Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, novelist and philosopher, Boston

    -Larry McMurtry, novelist, essayist and screenwriter, Archer City, Texas

    -Everett L. Fly, architect, San Antonio

    -Jhumpa Lahiri, author, New York City

    -Fedwa Malti-Douglas, professor and scholar, Rhinebeck, New York

    -Vicki Lynn Ruiz, historian, Irvine, California

    Tags:Barack ObamaNational Medal of ArtsSally Field



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    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

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