Deceased OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji’s parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy have sued the city of San Francisco and the San Francisco Police Department. According to reports, the parents of the former OpenAI employee are alleging a cover-up in the death of their son.
According to a lawsuit, Balaji’s parents are alleging a conspiracy, noting that the real cause of their son’s death is murder, not suicide. The filing mentioned that the San Francisco PD failed to carry out a thorough investigation before ruling it as a suicide, adding that the police department covered up the crime.
The former OpenAI employee was found dead at his apartment in an apparent suicide late last year, with the Office of the Chief Examiner confirming the body and his identity. Before his death, the OpenAI whistleblower was a former employee at the artificial intelligence company, famous for his interview with the New York Times where he accused the firm of breaching copyright laws.
Deceased OpenAI whistleblower’s parents seek legal redress
According to the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, the OpenAI whistleblower’s parents mentioned that after they heard of their son’s death, they urged the authorities to carry out further investigations, but were told that the case had already been closed. However, according to their attorney Joseph Goethals, the petitioners want the authorities to release withheld public records.
“The lawsuit demands that the city, police department, and medical examiner release public documents withheld under the Public Records Act,” Joseph Goethals told Decrypt. He also mentioned that if the authorities fail to release the documents within 10 days and no valid exceptions are made, a lawsuit will compel the release, mentioning that a court directive will order their release.
In the lawsuit, the petitioners claimed that the San Francisco Police Department acted against the California Public Records Act by withholding records meant to be released to the public regarding the case. The attorneys also mentioned that the petitioners said that the investigations into the death of their son were quickly concluded, with the officials ignoring key findings, noting that they also ignored their plea for further inquiry.
Now, the lawsuit is mandating the immediate release of all reports, videos, and pictures, along with the payments of legal costs. According to Goethals, they are ready to seek redress until they get what they want. “If the San Francisco Superior Court does not interpret and impose the law correctly, we will seek recourse with the Court of Appeal. We hope it doesn’t come to that,” he added.
Suchir Balaji’s tussle with OpenAI
Balaji had worked at OpenAI from 2020 to 2024, leaving the company in August 2024. According to his interview with The New York Times, he mentioned that he had helped the company gather a massive amount of data from the internet without permission before the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. In a tweet from October, he mentioned that he had little idea about copyrights and fair use until lawsuits started springing up against several generative AI firms.
“When I tried to understand the issue better, I eventually concluded that fair use seems like a pretty implausible defense for a lot of generative AI products, for the basic reason that they can create substitutes that compete with the data they’re trained on,” he said.
In the lawsuit, the deceased OpenAI whistleblower’s parents mentioned that they engaged the service of forensic pathologist Dr. David Cohen to carry out a private autopsy. According to the doctor’s report, there was a gunshot wound in the deceased’s mid-forehead, a slight right to the bridge of his nose. Dr. Cohen also mentioned that the gunshot wound was unusual for suicide, as the bullet trajectory did not show it.
He highlighted that the bullet moved downwards from a left to right angle, missing the brain and lodging at the brainstem. Dr. Cohen’s report also mentioned a contusion at the back of the deceased OpenAI whistleblower’s head, raising questions about the circumstances surrounding his death. Balaji’s body was discovered in his apartment a week after he was named as the whistleblower in The New York Times lawsuit against OpenAI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has since rejected the media company’s claims, noting that the lawsuit puts it on the ‘wrong side of history.’
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