The family of Suchir Balaji say he was killed and didn't eliminate himself. Now they have actually taken legal action against San Francisco and its authorities department.

Decrypt's Art, Fashion, and Entertainment Hub.

The parents of departed OpenAI whistleblower have actually taken legal action against the city of San Francisco and the San Francisco Police Department, declaring that the real cause of 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 performing a comprehensive examination.

Balaji, who had worked as a researcher at OpenAI, was discovered dead in his San Francisco apartment last November. Attorneys state Balaji's moms and wiki.dulovic.tech dads, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, requested further examination into his death but were told the case was currently closed.

"The claim requires that the city, authorities department, and medical examiner release public files kept under the Public Records Act," Joseph Goethals, attorney for the petitioners, informed Decrypt. He said that if the documents weren't supplied within 10 days, and "no legitimate exceptions use, a claim can compel their release. We will seek a court order to obtain them."

The claim claims that SFPD broke the California Public Records Act by unlawfully keeping public records of the case. Attorneys for Ramarao and Ramamurthy also argued that the investigation into their son's death was rushed and inadequate, with officials ignoring essential forensic findings and failing to address their ask for more questions.

The claim requires the instant disclosure of all reports, images, and videos, together with protection of legal expenses.

Said Geothals: "If the San Francisco Superior Court does not analyze and impose the law correctly, we will look for recourse with the Court of Appeal. We hope it doesn't 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, he had actually helped OpenAI gather and use "enormous quantities" of data drawn from the internet without authorization.

According to the claim, in December, Balaji's household worked with forensic pathologist Dr. Joseph Cohen to carry out a personal autopsy. In his report, Dr. Cohen figured out that there was a single gunshot wound in the mid-forehead, slightly to the right of the bridge of his nose.

Dr. Cohen said that the bullet trajectory was unusual for a suicide, as it traveled downward at a slight left-to-right angle, completely 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 questions about the scenarios of his death.

The San Francisco Police Department did not instantly respond to an ask for remark by Decrypt.

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

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