The household of Suchir Balaji state he was murdered and didn't eliminate himself. Now they have actually taken legal action against San Francisco and its police 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, declaring that the genuine reason for his death was not suicide, however murder.

The claim, submitted in January, alleges that the SFPD covered the criminal activity, ruling it a suicide without carrying out an extensive investigation.

Balaji, who had actually worked as a researcher at OpenAI, was discovered dead in his San Francisco apartment or condo last November. Attorneys say Balaji's parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, asked for further investigation into his death however were told the case was currently closed.

"The claim demands that the city, authorities department, and medical inspector release public documents kept under the Public Records Act," Joseph Goethals, lawyer for the petitioners, informed Decrypt. He said that if the documents weren't provided 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 also argued that the examination into their kid's death was rushed and insufficient, with officials disregarding crucial forensic findings and failing to resolve their demands for additional query.

The claim requires the immediate disclosure of all reports, pictures, setiathome.berkeley.edu and videos, along with coverage of legal costs.

Said Geothals: "If the San Francisco Superior Court does not translate and enforce the law properly, we will look for option 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 general public launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, he had assisted OpenAI gather and utilize "massive amounts" of information drawn from the web without authorization.

According to the claim, in December, Balaji's household hired forensic pathologist Dr. Joseph Cohen to carry out a private autopsy. In his report, Dr. Cohen figured out 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, entirely missing the brain before lodging in the brainstem, according to the match. Dr. Cohen determined a contusion on the back of Balaji's head, which he said raised further questions about the scenarios of his death.

The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately react to a request for remark by Decrypt.

The claim called out the scenarios of Bilaji's death. His body was found a week after The New york city Times discussed the whistleblower in a court filing related to its claim against OpenAI.

Despite Balaji's discoveries, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pushed back on the New York Times' claims. Speaking at the newspaper's annual DealBook Summit, Altman dismissed the claims.