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The family of Suchir Balaji say he was murdered and didn't kill himself. Now they've taken legal action against San Francisco and its police department.

Decrypt's Art, Fashion, and Entertainment Hub.

The moms and dads of departed OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji have taken legal action against the city of and the San Francisco Police Department, alleging that the genuine cause of his death was not suicide, however murder.

The claim, passfun.awardspace.us filed in January, declares that the SFPD covered the criminal offense, sciencewiki.science ruling it a suicide without carrying out a comprehensive investigation.

Balaji, who had worked as a scientist at OpenAI, was discovered dead in his San Francisco home last November. Attorneys state Balaji's parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, asked for even more investigation into his death however were told the case was currently closed.

"The claim demands that the city, police department, and medical inspector release public documents withheld under the general public Records Act," Joseph Goethals, attorney for the petitioners, told Decrypt. He said that if the files weren't supplied within 10 days, and "no valid exceptions apply, a claim can compel their release. We will seek a court order to obtain them."

The claim claims that SFPD breached 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 hurried and inadequate, with authorities overlooking essential forensic findings and failing to resolve their requests for additional query.

The claim demands the instant disclosure of all reports, pictures, and videos, together with protection of legal costs.

Said Geothals: "If the San Francisco Superior Court does not translate and enforce the law properly, we will seek option 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 assisted OpenAI gather and utilize "massive amounts" of information drawn from the web without approval.

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

Dr. Cohen said that the bullet trajectory was uncommon for a suicide, as it took a trip downward at a slight 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 an ask for remark by Decrypt.

The claim called out the scenarios of Bilaji's death. His body was discovered a week after The New York Times pointed out 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 newspaper's yearly DealBook Summit, Altman dismissed the claims.