OpenAI whistleblower death: Parents want to know what happened to Suchir Balaji after apparent suicide

SAN FRANCISCO — The dad and mom of a former OpenAI researcher recognized for not too long ago blowing the whistle on the corporate’s enterprise practices are questioning the circumstances of their son’s loss of life final month.

In an interview this week, Suchir Balaji’s mom and father expressed confusion and shock over his sudden passing, expressing doubt their son might have died by suicide, as decided by the county medical expert.

The household employed an knowledgeable to carry out an impartial post-mortem however has but to launch the report’s findings.

“We’re demanding an intensive investigation — that’s our name,” stated Balaji’s mom, Poornima Ramarao.

San Francisco police discovered Balaji useless in his Decrease Haight house on Nov. 26, lower than per week after his twenty sixth birthday.

The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Workplace later informed this information company his loss of life was dominated a suicide, although a last post-mortem report has but to be launched whereas the workplace completes toxicology exams. Earlier this month, San Francisco police officers stated there’s “presently, no proof of foul play.”

Balaji’s loss of life despatched shockwaves all through Silicon Valley and the unreal intelligence trade.

He garnered a nationwide highlight in late October when he accused his former employer, OpenAI, of breaking federal copyright legislation by siphoning knowledge from throughout the web to coach its blockbuster chatbot, ChatGPT.

His issues backed up allegations aired in recent times by authors, screenwriters and pc programmers who say OpenAI stole their content material with out permission, in violation of U.S. “honest use” legal guidelines governing how folks can use beforehand printed work.

Media corporations have been amongst these to sue the corporate, together with The Mercury Information and 7 of its affiliated newspapers, and, individually, The New York Instances.

In an interview with The New York Instances printed in October 2024, Balaji described his resolution to go away the generative synthetic intelligence firm in August whereas suggesting that its knowledge assortment practices are “not a sustainable mannequin for the web ecosystem as a complete.

“In the event you imagine what I imagine, you must simply depart the corporate,” he informed the newspaper.

By Nov. 18, Balaji had been named in court docket filings as somebody who had “distinctive and related paperwork” that will help the case in opposition to OpenAI. He was amongst not less than 12 folks — a lot of them previous or current OpenAI staff — to be named by the newspaper in court docket filings as having materials useful to their case.

His loss of life per week later has left Balaji’s dad and mom reeling.

In an interview at their Alameda County house this week, his mom stated her solely youngster “was a tremendous human being, from childhood.”

“Nobody believes that he might try this,” Ramarao stated about his taking his personal life.

OpenAI didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark however in a press release to Enterprise Insider stated it was “devastated” to study of Balaji’s loss of life and stated that they had been in contact along with his dad and mom “to supply our full help throughout this tough time.”

“Our precedence is to proceed to do every part we will to help them,” the corporate’s assertion learn. “We first grew to become conscious of his issues when The New York Instances printed his feedback and we’ve no report of any additional interplay with him.

“We respect his, and others’, proper to share views freely,” the assertion added. “Our hearts exit to Suchir’s family members, and we prolong our deepest condolences to all who’re mourning his loss.”