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

The family of Suchir Balaji say he was murdered and didn’t eliminate himself. Now they have actually taken legal action against San Francisco and its cops department.

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

The claim, submitted in January, alleges that the SFPD covered the criminal activity, ruling it a suicide without carrying out a comprehensive examination.

Balaji, who had actually worked as a researcher at OpenAI, was found dead in his San Francisco house last November. Attorneys state Balaji’s moms and dads, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, asked for further investigation into his death but were told the case was currently closed.

“The claim requires that the city, authorities department, and medical examiner release public documents kept under the general public Records Act,” Joseph Goethals, lawyer for the petitioners, told 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 keeping public records of the case. Attorneys for Ramarao and Ramamurthy also argued that the examination into their son’s death was rushed and inadequate, with authorities disregarding crucial forensic findings and failing to resolve their requests for further inquiry.

The claim requires the immediate disclosure of all reports, images, and videos, together with coverage of legal costs.

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 assisted OpenAI collect and use “huge quantities” of information drawn from the web without consent.

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

Dr. Cohen said that the bullet trajectory was unusual for a suicide, as it took a trip downward at a minor left-to-right angle, entirely missing the brain before lodging in the brainstem, according to the suit. Dr. Cohen recognized a contusion on the back of Balaji’s head, which he said raised further concerns about the situations of his death.

The San Francisco Police Department did not right away react to a demand for remark by Decrypt.

The claim called out the circumstances of . His body was discovered a week after The New York Times discussed the whistleblower in a court filing associated 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 yearly DealBook Summit, Altman dismissed the claims.