A former researcher at OpenAI was found dead inside of his California apartment last month, authorities said. Suchir Balaji, 26, had in recent months become a whistleblower against OpenAI, speaking publicly about the company’s practices and questioning whether or not they were legal.

Balaji died by suicide, the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office told CBS News in a statement. There was no evidence of foul play. 

His body was discovered Nov. 26 inside of his apartment in San Francisco, where OpenAI is headquartered, CBS News partner BBC News reported, citing police. Officers said they performed a welfare check at Balaji’s residence after receiving a call requesting them to do so.

Balaji’s family told the Associated Press that they are planning a memorial for him, set to take place later in December at the India Community Center in Milpitas, California, near his hometown. His parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, told the AP that they are seeking answers about their son’s death and described him as a “happy, smart and brave young man.” 

“We are devastated to learn of this incredible sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir’s loved ones during this difficult time,” said a spokesperson for OpenAI in a statement to the Associated Press.

Originally from Cupertino, California, Balaji worked for four years as a researcher at OpenAI before leaving the company in August. He alleged in an October interview with The New York Times that OpenAI, an artificial intelligence organization co-founded by Tesla magnate Elon Musk, had violated United States copyright law as it developed ChatGPT, which Balaji himself helped build during his time with the company. Balaji subsequently told the Associated Press that he would “try to testify” in the strongest copyright infringement cases against his former employer.

OpenAI now faces a group of lawsuits brought by various news publishers across the U.S. and Canada as well as some individuals — including The New York Times and the authors John Grisham and Jodie Picoult — accusing OpenAI of illegally using their intellectual property to train the online  chatbot. Although Musk was originally a co-founder of OpenAI, he engaged in a monthslong attack against the company, most recently claiming in a lawsuit that its conversion to a for-profit company is “illegal.”

John Schulman, who also co-founded OpenAI and announced his own departure from the company in August, shared a tribute to Balaji after his death in a statement that Balaji’s father posted on social media.

In it, Schulman said he was “heartbroken to hear of Suchir’s passing” and called Balaji “one of my favorite and most talented collaborators.”

CBS News contacted OpenAI but did not receive an immediate response.

If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, you can reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You can also chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline here.

For more information about mental health care resources and support, The National Alliance on Mental Illness HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email info@nami.org.

President-elect Donald Trump is filling out his National Security Council with several officials who served in his first administration. 

Brian McCormack, a longtime energy consultant, and Andrew Peek, a seasoned Middle East adviser, will take senior roles on Trump’s White House National Security Council, according to people familiar with the matter, signaling a focus on Iran and on beefing up domestic energy production. 

The National Security Council is an advisory body made up of regional and subject-matter experts who help coordinate domestic and foreign policy. 

The NSC’s executive secretary will be Catherine Keller, according to multiple people familiar with the new hires. Keller was a deputy general counsel at the Commerce Department and deputy White House staff secretary in Trump’s first term.

Trump named Florida Republican Congressman Mike Waltz as his national security adviser less than a week after the election. Waltz’s congressional chief of staff, Micah Ketchel, will be senior adviser and a special assistant to the president, one of the sources said. Ketchel previously worked for the Republican Attorneys General Association and at the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Peek is Waltz’s congressional national security adviser and a former Army intelligence officer. In Trump’s first term, Peek was a deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq and Iran and then became the NSC’s senior director for Europe. He was removed from the NSC after just three months during a security investigation in 2020. The allegations were unfounded, one of the sources said, and Peek never lost his security clearance. He has a PhD in Russian and Iranian proxy warfare.

McCormack is known for having a deep understanding of energy policy after working as a top aide in the Energy Department for then-Secretary Rick Perry and later at the Office of Management and Budget. He co-founded an organization that champions nuclear power, including for military purposes.

McCormack was among several aides who declined to participate in the U.S. House hearings on Ukraine during the 2019 impeachment against Trump. Early in his career, McCormack was an aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and was in the West Wing on Sept. 11, 2001. 

One of Trump’s transition team spokespeople, Brian Hughes, will be deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, according to sources. And James Hewitt, Waltz’s congressional communications director, will serve in a communications role at Trump’s new NSC. 

In a statement in November, the president-elect said Alex Wong, a longtime Asia adviser, will be deputy national security adviser, and Sebastian Gorka will be the NSC’s senior director for counterterrorism. 

Seats on the NSC often turn over with a new president. President Joe Biden’s NSC has more than 300 people after Trump worked to shrink the group during his first term.

The congressional office of Republican Rep. Kay Granger of Texas denied she is in a memory care assisted living facility after a report in the right-wing news outlet Dallas Express said she has not been in Washington in months and that she had been found at Tradition-Clearfork in Fort Worth, which offers assisted living and memory care, in addition to independent living for seniors. 

Tradition-Clearfork on Sunday declined to comment, but Granger’s son confirmed to the Dallas Morning News that she was a resident. However, he said that she’s in the independent living wing, not the memory care wing of the facility.

He also acknowledged that his mother was “having some dementia issues late in the year.”

Granger, who has represented the 12th Congressional District since 1997, announced in late 2023 she would not run for reelection and abruptly stepped down from her post as chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee in late March. She cast her last vote in Congress in July.

She will be succeeded by Craig Goldman when the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025. 

On Sunday, her office released a statement saying, “Kay Granger is not in Memory Care,” and issued a statement from the congresswoman, who said, “As many of my family, friends, and colleagues have known, I have been navigating some unforeseen health challenges over the past year.”

She said that since early September, her “health challenges have progressed making frequent travel to Washington both difficult and unpredictable.”

Granger, 81, acknowledged that she returned to Washington in November for some meetings, thanked her staff and oversaw the closure of her congressional office.  

At that time, the House Appropriations Committee honored her, unveiling her portrait in a ceremony on Nov. 19. However, although the House voted that day, she did not participate. 

Rep. Tony Gonzales, another Republican in the Texas delegation, told “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan on Sunday that he was not aware of Granger’s health status before the latest reports emerged from Dallas.

“I think there’s no doubt a lot of us knew that she was gaining an age, like a lot of members do. And sadly, you know, some of these members wait until things have gone too far,” said Gonzales. The congressman told Brennan he was not sure of the extent to which House leaders understood the situation.

“I’m not too sure what leadership knew on it or didn’t know on it,” he continued. “I think this goes…gets back to the root of it. Congress should do its job, and if you can’t do your job, maybe you shouldn’t be there.”