In this Oct. 11, 2012, file photo, singer Barbra Streisand performs at the Barclays Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
By Rachelle Blidner
NEW YORK (AP) --
Officials say Barbra Streisand will serve as board chair of a planned performing arts center at the World Trade Center.
The announcement was made Thursday at a design-unveiling for the long-stalled project.
The center will be shaped like a cube and made out of translucent marble. It will have three theaters with moveable walls that could be reconfigured for works of dance, opera, music and theater. It also will be home to the Tribeca Film Festival.
The center will be called the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center and is scheduled to open in early 2020. The billionaire businessman donated $75 million for the $250 million project in June.
It has undergone numerous changes and delays since it was first included as part of the site's 2003 master plan.
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
