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 authorities department.

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The parents of departed OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji have 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, declares that the SFPD concealed the crime, ruling it a suicide without performing a comprehensive examination.

Balaji, who had worked as a scientist at OpenAI, was discovered dead in his San Francisco apartment or condo last November. Attorneys state Balaji’s moms and dads, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, requested even more examination into his death however were informed the case was currently closed.

“The claim requires that the city, police department, and medical inspector release public files kept under the general public Records Act,” Joseph Goethals, lawyer for the petitioners, bphomesteading.com told Decrypt. He said that if the files weren’t supplied within 10 days, and “no legitimate exceptions use, a claim can oblige their release. We will seek a court order to obtain them.”

The claim claims that SFPD violated the California Public Records Act by unlawfully keeping public records of the case. Attorneys for Ramarao and Ramamurthy likewise argued that the investigation into their boy’s death was hurried and insufficient, with authorities ignoring crucial forensic findings and failing to address their ask for additional inquiry.

The claim requires the instant disclosure of all reports, images, and videos, in addition to protection of legal expenses.

Said Geothals: “If the San Francisco Superior Court does not analyze and enforce the law properly, we will seek recourse with the Court of Appeal. We hope it does not 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 public launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, asteroidsathome.net he had helped OpenAI gather and use “huge amounts” of data drawn from the internet without consent.

According to the claim, in December, Balaji’s household hired forensic pathologist Dr. Joseph Cohen to perform a personal autopsy. In his report, Dr. Cohen determined 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 uncommon for a suicide, as it traveled downward at a minor left-to-right angle, totally missing the brain before lodging in the brainstem, according to the match. 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 immediately react to a request for comment by Decrypt.

The claim called out the of Bilaji’s death. His body was discovered a week after The New York Times mentioned 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 annual DealBook Summit, Altman dismissed the claims.