Parents Of Dead OpenAI Whistleblower Sue San Francisco, Alleging Murder Cover-Up

The family of Suchir Balaji state he was murdered and didn’t kill himself. Now they’ve taken legal action against San Francisco and its authorities department.

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The moms and dads of deceased OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji have actually taken legal action against the city of San Francisco and the San Francisco Police Department, alleging that the real reason for his death was not suicide, but murder.

The claim, submitted in January, alleges that the SFPD concealed the criminal activity, ruling it a suicide without performing a thorough investigation.

Balaji, who had actually worked as a scientist at OpenAI, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment or condo last November. Attorneys state Balaji’s parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, asked for further examination into his death but were told the case was already closed.

„The claim demands that the city, authorities department, and medical inspector release public files withheld under the Public Records Act,“ Joseph Goethals, attorney for the petitioners, informed Decrypt. He said that if the files weren’t supplied within 10 days, and „no legitimate exceptions apply, a claim can force their release. We will look for a court order to obtain them.“

The claim claims that SFPD broke the California Public Records Act by unlawfully withholding public records of the case. Attorneys for Ramarao and Ramamurthy likewise argued that the investigation into their child’s death was rushed and inadequate, with officials ignoring key forensic findings and failing to address their requests for additional query.

The claim requires the immediate disclosure of all reports, photos, bahnreise-wiki.de and videos, along with protection of legal expenses.

Said Geothals: „If the San Francisco Superior Court does not analyze and impose the law properly, we will look for option with the Court of Appeal. We hope it doesn’t pertain to that.“

Balaji worked for OpenAI from November 2020 to August 2024. In an interview with The New York Times in October, he said that before the general public launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, he had actually helped OpenAI collect and utilize „enormous quantities“ of information taken from the internet without consent.

According to the claim, in December, Balaji’s family hired forensic pathologist Dr. Joseph Cohen to perform a private autopsy. In his report, Dr. Cohen identified that there was a single gunshot injury in the mid-forehead, slightly to the right of the bridge of his nose.

Dr. Cohen said that the bullet trajectory was uncommon for a suicide, as it traveled downward at a small left-to-right angle, totally missing the brain before lodging in the brainstem, according to the fit. Dr. Cohen recognized a contusion on the back of Balaji’s head, which he said raised even more questions about the of his death.

The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately react to an ask for remark by Decrypt.

The claim called out the scenarios of Bilaji’s death. His body was found a week after The New York Times discussed the whistleblower in a court filing related to its claim against OpenAI.

Despite Balaji’s revelations, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pushed back on the New York Times’ claims. Speaking at the newspaper’s annual DealBook Summit, Altman dismissed the claims.