Mila Kunis, right, a cast member in "Bad Moms," discusses the film as fellow cast member Kristen Bell looks on during the STX Entertainment presentation at CinemaCon 2016, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), at Caesars Palace on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
By Lindsey Bahr, Film Writer
LAS VEGAS (AP) --
Newbie film studio STX has a fresh creative partner in its ring: Sylvester Stallone.
The less than two-year-old company that specializes in mid-budget films like "The Gift" announced Tuesday at CinemaCon that it would be developing a film project with Stallone, who was on site at the annual gathering of theater owners.
STX Motion Picture Group Chairman Adam Fogelson also brought out director Gary Ross, Matthew McConaughey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw to preview footage from this summer's "The Free State of Jones," a Civil War drama about Confederate rebellion leader Newt Knight.
In the presentation, Fogelson touted the company's diverse range of movies, which includes the coming-of-age drama "The Edge of Seventeen," the Jackie Chan action thriller "The Foreigner," the raunchy comedy "Bad Moms," and the Jonas Cuaron-directed border drama "Desierto."
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
