YouTube has acquired the rights to Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!, directed by Academy Award® nominee Morgan Spurlock and co-written with Jeremy Chilnick, from Warrior Poets, Snoot Entertainment and Public Domain. The sequel to the Oscar® nominated documentary made its world premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival as an official selection of the Festival’s Documentary Premiere section. Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! will release theatrically in 2018, followed by the exclusive global premiere on YouTube Red.
Thirteen years after Super Size Me garnered an Academy Award® nomination for Best Feature Documentary, muckraking filmmaker Spurlock reignites his battle with the food industry–this time from behind the register–as he opens his own fast food restaurant.
“I’m ecstatic to be partnering with YouTube Red for the release of Super Size Me 2!” said Morgan Spurlock. “There’s no one better to help get this film in front of more people worldwide than these guys. They are going to blow this clucker up!”
“Supersize Me 2” marks the second time Spurlock has partnered with YouTube, following the successful release of his documentary Vlogumentary on YouTube Red in 2016.
“Morgan Spurlock has tackled so many thought-provoking topics over the years, and we’re thrilled to partner with him once again on this revealing documentary,” said Susanne Daniels, global head of original content, YouTube. “Morgan is skilled at sparking a global conversation on today’s most relevant issues, and Super Size Me 2 is yet another powerful film that will captivate viewers.”
Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died
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