'Autopsy showed struggle signs': OpenAI whistleblower's mother alleges foul play
What's the story
The death of Suchir Balaji, a former employee and whistleblower at OpenAI, has sparked controversy in the United States. Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on November 26, 2024. While authorities have ruled his death as suicide, his family vehemently disagrees with this conclusion. His mother, Poornima Rao, suspects foul play and has demanded a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into her son's death.
Investigation details
Autopsy report and apartment condition raise suspicions
Balaji's parents claim the autopsy report showed signs of struggle, including a head injury. "We read the second autopsy, there are signs of struggle such as head injury, more details from the autopsy reveal it is murder," his mother told NDTV. Rao also said she found her son's apartment ransacked with signs of a struggle in the bathroom. She said blood splatter patterns didn't match a suicide scenario, further fueling their suspicions about Balaji's death.
Justice sought
Family's plea for justice and support from Indian authorities
Rao added that Suchir was in the top 10 in the artificial intelligence field. "Why would he quit OpenAI and leave the AI industry, he was planning to start something in neuroscience and machine learning. Our suspicion is was he threatened by OpenAI....he didn't pick up another job, maybe they threatened him," she told the channel. She also alleged that her son told her that the "work of artistes and journalists are stolen (by ChatGPT) and that's very unethical."
Career impact
Balaji's whistleblowing activities and future plans
In another interview, Rao said he was working on personal research and was ready to go "public in a big way." "We are investigating who accessed his desktop," she told TOI. She said her son was found dead a week after being named as a potential witness in a lawsuit brought against OpenAI by the New York Times. "He had documents and some information that would have been very critical. It would have shaken the AI industry...especially OpenAI and Microsoft."
Supportive voices
Elon Musk and private investigator support family's claims
Notably, tech billionaire Elon Musk has also publicly backed the family's claims. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Musk wrote, "This doesn't seem like a suicide." A private investigator hired by Balaji's family also concluded that Balaji's death didn't seem like suicide. Notably, Balaji had resigned from OpenAI in August 2024 over ethical concerns regarding the company's practices. He had accused OpenAI of violating copyright laws by using internet data to train AI models.