The mother of Suchir Balaji, a former employee of Open AI in San Francisco, America, has raised questions on his death. He has declared Balaji’s death a murder and demanded an investigation by the FBI. In October, Suchir had accused the company of violating copyright laws. The news of his death came a month later. The 26-year-old OpenAI whistleblower and researcher was found dead in his San Francisco apartment in California on November 26.
Update on @suchirbalaji
We hired private investigator and did second autopsy to throw light on cause of death. Private autopsy doesn’t confirm cause of death stated by police.
Suchir’s apartment was ransacked, sign of struggle in the bathroom and looks like some one hit him…
— Poornima Rao (@RaoPoornima) December 29, 2024
Suchir’s death was declared suicide
American officials had declared Balaji’s death a suicide. In a post on X on Sunday, his mother Purnima Rama Rao said that she hired a private investigator and conducted a second autopsy to determine the real cause of death. He said that the private autopsy does not confirm the cause of death given by the police. Rama Rao also alleged that Balaji’s apartment – ​​which was on Buchanan Street – was looted.
Looking at the blood stains I felt…
Along with this, he said, “There were marks of stabbing in the bathroom and looking at the blood stains, it seems that someone had hit her in the bathroom.” Calling for an FBI investigation, Rama Rao said, “This is a brutal murder, which authorities have declared a suicide. Lobbying in the city of San Francisco cannot stop us from getting justice.” In his post, he tagged billionaire Elon Musk and Indian-American tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who is going to be a part of the Donald Trump administration.
This doesn’t seem like a suicide
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2024
What did Elon Musk say on Suchir’s death
Elon Musk, who has been in a long-running dispute with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Responding to his post, he said, “It doesn’t look like suicide.” According to media reports, Balaji’s father Balaji Ramamurthy, speaking at a prayer meeting organized for his son in Milpitas, California, said that he was the last person to talk to him on November 22. During the 15-minute call, he said they talked about his trip to Los Angeles, which was part of his birthday celebrations. He told that he was in LA and having a good time. So he sent us all the pictures. He was in a good mood.
What Suchir Balaji said about OpenAI
Suchir had said in an interview that the business model of OpenAI is not stable and is very bad for the internet ecosystem. He had alleged that the company copied online data to develop its program and also broke America’s copyright rules. He also asked people to leave the company as soon as possible. This technical expert of Indian origin left the company in October 2023 after spending almost four years in the company.