February 2025

nunystuff:

Crowley Soundboard™

Bonus:

hollowedskin:

snazzymolasses:

manganese-heptoxide:

thegaymertrainer:

So cool to see the growth!

kandinsky ain’t got nothin on her

I just learned a thing about art.

You can just paint circles. And still make amazing art.

Things that have always stopped me from trying to art:

  • I can’t understand shapes and perspective
  • I can’t understand shading and lighting
  • I can’t make faces or human bodies because I don’t perceive them really (every face I draw is the same face, because that is what my face blindness sees)
  • I can’t think of scenes to make
  • I don’t understand “simplifying” what my eye sees into the mushes that artists make (For example, were to try to draw a tree, it would take me 50 years because the only way I could interpret it would be to draw every single individual leaf, exactly as it appears, which is impossible)

Today I learned that I don’t have to do any of those things in order to art.

I could just paint circles forever, and that would count as art. As cool art.

I would personally be happier with squares. But still. I could just. Draw shapes and paint them in, and it would count as art.

Eye-opening.

Do it! Pick a shape or a geometric pattern and make a rule, just like they did. Then try a new rule. Then combine rules. It’s going to come out amazing, and over time you’ll be able to do more and more complex things!

And yes it’s art! It is making art! Go make some art!

the-lumpfish-king:

Tierlist of the Evangelion angels if they were ground up and used as hamburger meat (inspired by recent events)

nem23:

landsccape:

lamignonette:

heavenly-havoc:

onion-souls:

through-a-historic-lens:

New York police officer fires his .38 service revolver at almost point-blank range into a piece of bulletproof glass, with a very brave test subject behind it, 1931.

What experimental value does a whole living guy add to this

Cops don’t shoot their guns if there’s no potential for civilian harm. It’s a motivator.

karvviie:

this is what happened right

mushroomsoupofficial:

aeryxi:

admiraltx:

YOU CAN’T JUST LEAVE THIS IN THE TAGS

She’s gonna do the Mario ass-pound and make that horse shrink, watch out

dontstopkiwibea:

bettsplendens:

keelime-pies:

mystisnykoto:

kittehkats:

     “Cats are cold, detached & unloving.”

image

     “Cats are not loyal.”

     “A cat will not greet you at the door.”

image
image
image

     “You can not train a cat”

image

     “Cats aren’t that smart.”

image

     “Cats aren’t that good with children.”

     “Cats don’t miss you when you’re gone.”

image

     “Cats don’t comfort you when you’re feeling down.”

What a load of crap !!!  One thing for certain… cats don’t give a rat’s ass what B.S. you tell about them. They refuse to care less, either about what you think of them, or about the people they love.

“Cats don’t miss you when you’re gone” is a ton of bs. Whenever I leave to go anywhere, I can hear my cats meowing at the door within moments trying to find me. They sit in the window watching for me to come home and they are at the door to greet me almost every single time.

Cats also grieve.
This cat watches a video of their owner who had passed away and he tries to cuddle up with the phone. The look on his face when they zoom in on him brings me to tears every time.

One of our cats comes and sleeps next to me when he sees that I’m not feeling well. If he’s in the kitchen when I come down for food with cramps or with a cold, he’ll follow me back upstairs and lay down on me and purr.

Cats are aloof animals who don’t put up with nonsense, will defend their boundaries with claws, and sometimes like to push things down to see what happens, but they aren’t jerks.

My cat will get annoyed if I stay up too late. She sleeps on my bed so she waits for me to go to sleep. Usually, she’s still on the bed when I wake up and won’t leave until I do. She also tends to follow me around if I’m walking around the house. And when I come home, she’s always at the door or in the process of running up to it. She gets angry when we put the dog gate up because then she can’t greet me when I get home. And when I’m gone for long periods of time, she will want cuddles but won’t want to look at me. Like the “I’m still mad at you but I need a hug.”

Cats are great and anyone who genuinely doesn’t get that, I’m sorry. Of course, she still has her moments. She still acts like a jerk sometimes. But I’ve raised my girl from a kitten and couldn’t be happier.

butch-witches-deactivated202412:

herpsandbirds:

All of my friends that work at wildlife rehab centers have had to untangle animals from this stuff, or had animals brought in that died in it. This is especially nasty for small owl species.

tags reading, "dont be a coward use real spiderwebs give spiders a place to ensnare candy seeking children and adults"ALT

nuh uh this doesnt stay in the tags bestie this is for reals.

making-you-in-spore:

littleguysdaily:

the-clapping-smiling-pig:

important-animal-images:

round planet

i made tubular feline in spore [2008]

the-haiku-bot:

somethingusefulfromflorida:

idiopathicsmile:

A snapshot of an website, featuring the words "Show price in" and then an unseen menu of options that is currently toggled to "Money"ALT

encountered this on united airline’s website today. the unseen second option turned out to be frequent flier miles, but RIP to the one glorious moment where it seemed perhaps i would be able to show the price of my flight in some other, non-monetary format, such as bartering with goats or backrubs. the sound of a baby’s laughter. your five most precious childhood memories.

Thank you for choosing Fae Airlines. To start things off, may we have your name?

Thank you for choosing

Fae Airlines. To start things off,

may we have your name?

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

idiopathicsmile:

A snapshot of an website, featuring the words "Show price in" and then an unseen menu of options that is currently toggled to "Money"ALT

encountered this on united airline’s website today. the unseen second option turned out to be frequent flier miles, but RIP to the one glorious moment where it seemed perhaps i would be able to show the price of my flight in some other, non-monetary format, such as bartering with goats or backrubs. the sound of a baby’s laughter. your five most precious childhood memories.

My girlfriend told me she’s slept with guys before me. Were lesbian. What should I do? I donno why but it makes me feel gross

heartswill-explode:

Ohhh fuck man. You gotta break up with her! She deserves better than you

My girlfriend told me she’s slept with guys before me. Were lesbian. What should I do? I donno why but it makes me feel gross

heartswill-explode:

Ohhh fuck man. You gotta break up with her! She deserves better than you

My girlfriend told me she’s slept with guys before me. Were lesbian. What should I do? I donno why but it makes me feel gross

heartswill-explode:

Ohhh fuck man. You gotta break up with her! She deserves better than you

timsplayhouse:

Reblog this to sprinkle some love on prev!


brucebocchi:

o0fyuu0o:

corvidcall:

to anyone in the areas impacted by the wildfire smoke, my #1 biggest piece of advice as someone whos been dealing with wildfire smoke in the NW united states for years, is build yourself a Corsi-Rosenthal Cube

they perform as well as expensive HEPA air cleaners, and are comparatively VERY inexpensive. all you need is a box fan, 4 air filters, a piece of cardboard, and some duct tape!!!!

i think it took us maybe a half hour to put ours together, if that, and we replace the filters every 3 months. it’s really made a HUGE difference, both when the air quality is bad, but also with our allergies

Saw these easy to read instructions on Twitter. Stay safe 💚

o0fyuu0o:

corvidcall:

to anyone in the areas impacted by the wildfire smoke, my #1 biggest piece of advice as someone whos been dealing with wildfire smoke in the NW united states for years, is build yourself a Corsi-Rosenthal Cube

they perform as well as expensive HEPA air cleaners, and are comparatively VERY inexpensive. all you need is a box fan, 4 air filters, a piece of cardboard, and some duct tape!!!!

i think it took us maybe a half hour to put ours together, if that, and we replace the filters every 3 months. it’s really made a HUGE difference, both when the air quality is bad, but also with our allergies

Saw these easy to read instructions on Twitter. Stay safe 💚

o0fyuu0o:

corvidcall:

to anyone in the areas impacted by the wildfire smoke, my #1 biggest piece of advice as someone whos been dealing with wildfire smoke in the NW united states for years, is build yourself a Corsi-Rosenthal Cube

they perform as well as expensive HEPA air cleaners, and are comparatively VERY inexpensive. all you need is a box fan, 4 air filters, a piece of cardboard, and some duct tape!!!!

i think it took us maybe a half hour to put ours together, if that, and we replace the filters every 3 months. it’s really made a HUGE difference, both when the air quality is bad, but also with our allergies

Saw these easy to read instructions on Twitter. Stay safe 💚

maranello:

you DON’T need to know where your favorite celebrity/artist/athlete lives, who they’re dating, where they go grocery shopping, what they are doing at any given moment when they are off camera actually. just an fyi

charl0ttan:

charl0ttan:

you can not close out of me in a way that matters

laslloronas:

sjw-dipper:

“Breathe looks like a thin, cropped tank top with mesh panels to keep the user cool. While it’s normally tight fighting, Breathe contains a smart alloy material called Nitone that, when electrified, loosens the garment. It’s battery operated and can be adjusted with a remote controller, so the user can discreetly change how tight the binding is – there’s no need to change their clothing or go into a private space in order to take a break. There’s also an optional feature that will automatically loosen the device when the user is playing a sport.”

His name is Miles Kilburn ✌🏽

library-graffiti:

nudityandnerdery:

nudityandnerdery:

I want you to remember:

The fascists hate you too and they just will pretend otherwise until after they’ve killed the rest of us, before they turn on you.

Thanks to whoever tried, but I knew they’d never allow it.

Let’s do it the old fashioned way. Spread it far and wide.

hotmeat89:

hailtodachimp62llq437qqp31qq5yyt:

whats swag

Don’t worry about it little bro let’s just keep playing legos

miseryofmillions:

makinbaconbot:

miseryofmillions:

tulasaysboo:

hustlerose:

hey guys am I funny yet :) can I have tumblr clout ???

where the fuck is he this is so cryptic op turn your location on i just want your teeth loss? is this loss? horses

miseryofmillions:

makinbaconbot:

miseryofmillions:

tulasaysboo:

hustlerose:

hey guys am I funny yet :) can I have tumblr clout ???

where the fuck is he this is so cryptic op turn your location on i just want your teeth loss? is this loss? horses

miseryofmillions:

makinbaconbot:

miseryofmillions:

tulasaysboo:

hustlerose:

hey guys am I funny yet :) can I have tumblr clout ???

where the fuck is he this is so cryptic op turn your location on i just want your teeth loss? is this loss? horses

lynxfang:

theprofessional-amateur:

delphinidin4:

I love funky wildlife services. I aspire to be as funky and know as much about wildlife

grinnersmiler:

theshitpostcalligrapher:

slitto:

wait this is just my print that goes like

heymerle:

vaspider:

vaspider:

hi, cis folks! meet S.9. it's the senate sports ban for trans athletes—a big step to something making trump’s executive order federal law, which is much harder to undo.

short call scripts for dem & GOP senators ⬇️.

if you said you'd stand with trans folks, it's time.🧵


https://legiscan.com/US/bill/SB9/2025ALT
if your senator's a democrat, try the script below. it’s got a bail out written in. play with it. you’ll get an intern. be polite. 

no dem cosponsors so far. but dems often cast cowardly votes  & need to know it won't hurt them to stand with trans people. see ⬇️🧵 

find your reps: https://myreps.datamade.us

Hi, my name is ___________ and I'm one of Senator ____________'s constituents. I need the Senator to commit to voting No on S-9, the "Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act," and other anti-trans legislation on the way. 

Trump's Executive Orders made it clear none of this is about protecting women. And no compromise on trans rights will make Republicans stop attacking. 

Voters respond when Democrats fight injustice. Bipartisanship isn't what at-risk people need or what the base wants, and it didn't help Democrats win 2024 elections.

[you can stop here at 0:30 if you want to bail out] 

If Senate Democrats stand together, Republicans can't pass this law and others like them. Executive Orders are easily overturned.

Tell Senator _____________ to vote No on S-9. If not for trans people, then because voters show up for Democrats who stand for something. Thank you.ALT
if your senator’s GOP, try this script. it’s got a bail out written in. you’ll get an intern. be polite.

some GOP can be manipulated, especially if they think it could cost them (see ⬇️).

*do not do a fake 'hick' voice.* your suburban neighbors are trump voters.🧵

find your reps: https://myreps.datamade.us

Hi, my name is _____________ and I'm one of Senator __________'s constituents. I need the Senator to vote No on S-9—the trans sports ban bill. 

Government shouldn't be in people's business like that. I don't want some adult looking down a kid's pants to make sure she's got the right parts to play softball. It's disgusting. 

Trump's Executive Orders made us look like maniacs. I've got neighbors who don't talk to me now. There are people at work who think I'm a Nazi because of how I voted.

[you can stop here at 0:25 if you want to bail out] 

I thought we were going to help the working class? Fix the economy Most folks don't ever even meet one of these people. All this transgender stuff doesn't do a thing to bring down my grocery bill. Who cares?

Tell _____________ to vote No on S-9. Focus on things that matter. Not culture war stuff. We don't need perverts in kids' pants. Thank you.ALT

(Also doing a fake hick voice is gross.)

the so-called “protection of women & girls in sports act” is cosponsored by 36 republicans. more may sign on.

check the screenshot below. if your senator’s GOP, but under the “persuadable” header—i’m borderline begging you to make the call.

cassidy, collins, murkowski voted to impeach trump.🧵ALT
here’s what we’re up against w/dems, btw.



schumer (NY) on inaguration day calls for bipartisanship & gets ratioed hard by people who saw all the EOs.

booker (NJ) saying "the people...didn't send me here to oppose trump" also went over poorly!

dems need to be badgered & coddled to fight.🧵ALT
"but isn't there room for compromise? what about the polling on this?"

1. no compromise will satisfy the GOP
2. compromising with people who want trans people to not exist is bad for trans people!
3. interracial marriage didn't have popular support til the 90s
4. it won't work. tap the thread.🧵ALT

[In the interest of post length, I’m not including all of the subthreads - you can read this thread starting here if you have a BlueSky login:

]

why didn’t dems answer those ads? they had no plan. that’s bad! 

but they appear to be testing one now. they moved almost unanimously against the congressional version of this bill. that’s good! 

please help trans people survive this administration by encouraging that behavior in the senate!🧵

screencap of the house vote on hr28—the bill that bans trans women and girls from participating in sports. all sports. as many sports as possible. not some. swimming & boxing & chess & darts.

it shows 216 republicans voting yes. do this. 
it shows 0 republicans voting no. don’t do this. 

it also shows all but 3 democrats - 206 of them - moving together to try to block this bill.ALT

[Spider’s note: yes, she means the House version of the bill, HR 28.]

"why is a sports ban so bad? isn’t this is only going to ban a few dozen people? aren't there other hills to die on?"

assuming you're asking that in good faith i would invite you to explore this article by @katelynburns.com. 🧵ALT
in that piece above, katelyn explains that "making democrats look bad by defending trans women—or look bad by not defending trans women—isn't republicans' goal…the goal of targeting trans women in sports...is to create a federal law that declares trans women are men."

she was right. look. 🧵ALT
in response to this sentiment, here's katelyn again in xtra: 



"the legislative branch is supposed to represent we the people, & legislators still respond to constituent phone calls"

last month, dems admitted constituent calls moved 37 votes left on a bad bill.🧵ALT
senate dems left the filibuster intact last term. that means the GOP needs 7 dem yes votes + the full GOP to advance this to trump.



we only need 41 total votes—a combination of any of the 47 dems & any GOP defector—to keep this from becoming a hard-to-reverse law.

please call. thank you. 💜🏳️‍⚧️ALT

Usually I provide alternate means, but y'all, call at 2 am if you don’t want to talk to a person, but this time, we need you to actually physically call. This one isn’t email priority. It’s please fucking call your Senators priority. I have been clear about not being alarmist, so let me say that this is one that we need to defeat. If your Senator is already firmly in the “no” camp, like mine, who introduced bills to make Bostock law, encourage them to be loud/louder about their no.

The head of the NCAA, which has about 500K athletes, said maybe five are trans people.

iheartvelma:

becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys:

iamafreakingwordsmith:

maggiemae873:

dolluxe-arts:

Anyway

My favourite way of learning news.

Oh my god, it’s more unpaid Twitter rent. Twitter’s London headquarters are on Crown Estate land, they’re the landlord.

Given that Prince Charles is still trying desperately to make us like him and has started putting a lot of publicly-known-about Crown Estate profits into the public purse, I wonder if the same would happen here if we all… made a fuss? Turned this into a public case? Made it clear this one is perfect for His Maj’s please-stop-hating-me personal campaign?

Could the struggling poor of Britain going through a cost of living crisis take Elon Musk’s money, is what I’m saying

like to charge, reblog to cast

iheartvelma:

becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys:

iamafreakingwordsmith:

maggiemae873:

dolluxe-arts:

Anyway

My favourite way of learning news.

Oh my god, it’s more unpaid Twitter rent. Twitter’s London headquarters are on Crown Estate land, they’re the landlord.

Given that Prince Charles is still trying desperately to make us like him and has started putting a lot of publicly-known-about Crown Estate profits into the public purse, I wonder if the same would happen here if we all… made a fuss? Turned this into a public case? Made it clear this one is perfect for His Maj’s please-stop-hating-me personal campaign?

Could the struggling poor of Britain going through a cost of living crisis take Elon Musk’s money, is what I’m saying

like to charge, reblog to cast

iheartvelma:

becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys:

iamafreakingwordsmith:

maggiemae873:

dolluxe-arts:

Anyway

My favourite way of learning news.

Oh my god, it’s more unpaid Twitter rent. Twitter’s London headquarters are on Crown Estate land, they’re the landlord.

Given that Prince Charles is still trying desperately to make us like him and has started putting a lot of publicly-known-about Crown Estate profits into the public purse, I wonder if the same would happen here if we all… made a fuss? Turned this into a public case? Made it clear this one is perfect for His Maj’s please-stop-hating-me personal campaign?

Could the struggling poor of Britain going through a cost of living crisis take Elon Musk’s money, is what I’m saying

like to charge, reblog to cast

clay4647931:

fromacomrade:

When the wage slaves stage a revolt, so you have to call in the McPinkertons

clay4647931:

fromacomrade:

When the wage slaves stage a revolt, so you have to call in the McPinkertons

clay4647931:

fromacomrade:

When the wage slaves stage a revolt, so you have to call in the McPinkertons

clay4647931:

fromacomrade:

When the wage slaves stage a revolt, so you have to call in the McPinkertons

clay4647931:

fromacomrade:

When the wage slaves stage a revolt, so you have to call in the McPinkertons

chillurn:

been making a lot of paper bugs lately.

do you want one?

jumpingjacktrash:

laughingsquid:

A Refined Ant With Expensive Taste Attempts to Steal a Loose Diamond From Wholesaler’s Desk

fucking superb you funky little felon

memewhore:

flamie87:

flamie87:

cosmonaut775:

Hey do y’all remember when Boeing fucking killed a guy last year. And we all said “huh I guess Boeing fucking killed a guy” and then went on with our lives. And everybody knew that Boeing had fully just fucking executed a guy and nothing came of it. Like there was no police investigation no justice no nothing. Like literally EVERYBODY knew that Boeing had full on murdered a guy to silence him and there wasn’t any consequences for them. Kinda crazy.

and there was even less talk when openai did the exact same thing more recently

So for those who are, very understandably uninitiated on this story:

On 23 October last year (2024) the New York Times published an interview with former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji who worked on organising and gathering data for OpenAI until 2022 when he begun thinking about the morality of it. He eventually came to the conclusion that what OpenAI is doing blatantly violates copyright law and decided to leave the company altogether in August 2024.

After he came out with this accusation he was set to appear in court to testify against OpenAI’s data-gathering practices, something which had the potential of being a complete disaster for the company and the generative AI industry as a whole.

That was until 26 November, just days before he was due to appear in court, when he suddenly and mysteriously was found dead inside his own apartment. Investigators concluded that the death was self-inflicted, something which his family has disputed.

There was also “sign of struggle in the bathroom and looks like someone hit him in the bathroom based on blood spots”, and his apartment showed signs of having been ransacked for evidence: “The pin drive is missing. His computer was messed up.”.

Overall it feels pretty clear-cut what happened, that is to say that OpenAI had him killed because he was a legitimate threat to their business, indicating that they are fully aware that the way they’re gathering data is completely illegal.

Sources:

Alys Davies, 14.12.2024, OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment. BBC News

Barney Davis, 16.1.2025, Suchir Balaji’s family demand outside investigation into OpenAI whistleblower’s death. The Independent

Cade Metz, 23.11.2024, Former OpenAI Researcher Says the Company Broke Copyright Law. The New York Times

flamie87:

flamie87:

cosmonaut775:

Hey do y’all remember when Boeing fucking killed a guy last year. And we all said “huh I guess Boeing fucking killed a guy” and then went on with our lives. And everybody knew that Boeing had fully just fucking executed a guy and nothing came of it. Like there was no police investigation no justice no nothing. Like literally EVERYBODY knew that Boeing had full on murdered a guy to silence him and there wasn’t any consequences for them. Kinda crazy.

and there was even less talk when openai did the exact same thing more recently

So for those who are, very understandably uninitiated on this story:

On 23 October last year (2024) the New York Times published an interview with former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji who worked on organising and gathering data for OpenAI until 2022 when he begun thinking about the morality of it. He eventually came to the conclusion that what OpenAI is doing blatantly violates copyright law and decided to leave the company altogether in August 2024.

After he came out with this accusation he was set to appear in court to testify against OpenAI’s data-gathering practices, something which had the potential of being a complete disaster for the company and the generative AI industry as a whole.

That was until 26 November, just days before he was due to appear in court, when he suddenly and mysteriously was found dead inside his own apartment. Investigators concluded that the death was self-inflicted, something which his family has disputed.

There was also “sign of struggle in the bathroom and looks like someone hit him in the bathroom based on blood spots”, and his apartment showed signs of having been ransacked for evidence: “The pin drive is missing. His computer was messed up.”.

Overall it feels pretty clear-cut what happened, that is to say that OpenAI had him killed because he was a legitimate threat to their business, indicating that they are fully aware that the way they’re gathering data is completely illegal.

Sources:

Alys Davies, 14.12.2024, OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment. BBC News

Barney Davis, 16.1.2025, Suchir Balaji’s family demand outside investigation into OpenAI whistleblower’s death. The Independent

Cade Metz, 23.11.2024, Former OpenAI Researcher Says the Company Broke Copyright Law. The New York Times

flamie87:

flamie87:

cosmonaut775:

Hey do y’all remember when Boeing fucking killed a guy last year. And we all said “huh I guess Boeing fucking killed a guy” and then went on with our lives. And everybody knew that Boeing had fully just fucking executed a guy and nothing came of it. Like there was no police investigation no justice no nothing. Like literally EVERYBODY knew that Boeing had full on murdered a guy to silence him and there wasn’t any consequences for them. Kinda crazy.

and there was even less talk when openai did the exact same thing more recently

So for those who are, very understandably uninitiated on this story:

On 23 October last year (2024) the New York Times published an interview with former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji who worked on organising and gathering data for OpenAI until 2022 when he begun thinking about the morality of it. He eventually came to the conclusion that what OpenAI is doing blatantly violates copyright law and decided to leave the company altogether in August 2024.

After he came out with this accusation he was set to appear in court to testify against OpenAI’s data-gathering practices, something which had the potential of being a complete disaster for the company and the generative AI industry as a whole.

That was until 26 November, just days before he was due to appear in court, when he suddenly and mysteriously was found dead inside his own apartment. Investigators concluded that the death was self-inflicted, something which his family has disputed.

There was also “sign of struggle in the bathroom and looks like someone hit him in the bathroom based on blood spots”, and his apartment showed signs of having been ransacked for evidence: “The pin drive is missing. His computer was messed up.”.

Overall it feels pretty clear-cut what happened, that is to say that OpenAI had him killed because he was a legitimate threat to their business, indicating that they are fully aware that the way they’re gathering data is completely illegal.

Sources:

Alys Davies, 14.12.2024, OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment. BBC News

Barney Davis, 16.1.2025, Suchir Balaji’s family demand outside investigation into OpenAI whistleblower’s death. The Independent

Cade Metz, 23.11.2024, Former OpenAI Researcher Says the Company Broke Copyright Law. The New York Times

flamie87:

flamie87:

cosmonaut775:

Hey do y’all remember when Boeing fucking killed a guy last year. And we all said “huh I guess Boeing fucking killed a guy” and then went on with our lives. And everybody knew that Boeing had fully just fucking executed a guy and nothing came of it. Like there was no police investigation no justice no nothing. Like literally EVERYBODY knew that Boeing had full on murdered a guy to silence him and there wasn’t any consequences for them. Kinda crazy.

and there was even less talk when openai did the exact same thing more recently

So for those who are, very understandably uninitiated on this story:

On 23 October last year (2024) the New York Times published an interview with former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji who worked on organising and gathering data for OpenAI until 2022 when he begun thinking about the morality of it. He eventually came to the conclusion that what OpenAI is doing blatantly violates copyright law and decided to leave the company altogether in August 2024.

After he came out with this accusation he was set to appear in court to testify against OpenAI’s data-gathering practices, something which had the potential of being a complete disaster for the company and the generative AI industry as a whole.

That was until 26 November, just days before he was due to appear in court, when he suddenly and mysteriously was found dead inside his own apartment. Investigators concluded that the death was self-inflicted, something which his family has disputed.

There was also “sign of struggle in the bathroom and looks like someone hit him in the bathroom based on blood spots”, and his apartment showed signs of having been ransacked for evidence: “The pin drive is missing. His computer was messed up.”.

Overall it feels pretty clear-cut what happened, that is to say that OpenAI had him killed because he was a legitimate threat to their business, indicating that they are fully aware that the way they’re gathering data is completely illegal.

Sources:

Alys Davies, 14.12.2024, OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment. BBC News

Barney Davis, 16.1.2025, Suchir Balaji’s family demand outside investigation into OpenAI whistleblower’s death. The Independent

Cade Metz, 23.11.2024, Former OpenAI Researcher Says the Company Broke Copyright Law. The New York Times

flamie87:

flamie87:

cosmonaut775:

Hey do y’all remember when Boeing fucking killed a guy last year. And we all said “huh I guess Boeing fucking killed a guy” and then went on with our lives. And everybody knew that Boeing had fully just fucking executed a guy and nothing came of it. Like there was no police investigation no justice no nothing. Like literally EVERYBODY knew that Boeing had full on murdered a guy to silence him and there wasn’t any consequences for them. Kinda crazy.

and there was even less talk when openai did the exact same thing more recently

So for those who are, very understandably uninitiated on this story:

On 23 October last year (2024) the New York Times published an interview with former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji who worked on organising and gathering data for OpenAI until 2022 when he begun thinking about the morality of it. He eventually came to the conclusion that what OpenAI is doing blatantly violates copyright law and decided to leave the company altogether in August 2024.

After he came out with this accusation he was set to appear in court to testify against OpenAI’s data-gathering practices, something which had the potential of being a complete disaster for the company and the generative AI industry as a whole.

That was until 26 November, just days before he was due to appear in court, when he suddenly and mysteriously was found dead inside his own apartment. Investigators concluded that the death was self-inflicted, something which his family has disputed.

There was also “sign of struggle in the bathroom and looks like someone hit him in the bathroom based on blood spots”, and his apartment showed signs of having been ransacked for evidence: “The pin drive is missing. His computer was messed up.”.

Overall it feels pretty clear-cut what happened, that is to say that OpenAI had him killed because he was a legitimate threat to their business, indicating that they are fully aware that the way they’re gathering data is completely illegal.

Sources:

Alys Davies, 14.12.2024, OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment. BBC News

Barney Davis, 16.1.2025, Suchir Balaji’s family demand outside investigation into OpenAI whistleblower’s death. The Independent

Cade Metz, 23.11.2024, Former OpenAI Researcher Says the Company Broke Copyright Law. The New York Times