In this April 3, 2019, file photo, Alan Horn, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, speaks underneath poster images for 20th Century Fox films during the Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures presentation at CinemaCon 2019, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Disney is dropping the word “Fox” from the movie studios it acquired as part of last year's $71 billion purchase of Fox's entertainment business, according to published reports. According to trade publication Variety, 20th Century Fox will become 20th Century Studios, while Fox Searchlight Pictures will be Searchlight Pictures. Disney will still run them as separate studios within the company. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) --
Disney is dropping the word "Fox" from the movie studios it acquired as part of last year's $71 billion purchase of Fox's entertainment business, according to published reports.
Disney will still run them as separate studios within the company. But trade publication Variety reported that 20th Century Fox will become 20th Century Studios, while Fox Searchlight Pictures will be Searchlight Pictures. Variety said the studios' logos are largely unchanged except for the removal of the Fox name.
Variety said the Fox name created brand confusion with Disney because Fox News and the Fox broadcast network are owned by Rupert Murdoch's Fox Corp., while the movie studios now belong to Disney.
The news outlet said a decision has yet to be made on Disney's Fox television production businesses, 20th Century Fox Television and Fox 21 Television Studio.
Disney representatives did not return messages requesting comment.
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
