The household of Suchir Balaji say he was killed and didn't eliminate himself. Now they've taken legal action against San Francisco and its cops department.
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The moms and dads of deceased OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji have actually 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, archmageriseswiki.com but murder.
The claim, filed in January, alleges that the SFPD covered up the criminal offense, ruling it a suicide without carrying out an extensive examination.
Balaji, who had actually worked as a researcher at OpenAI, was found dead in his San Francisco house last November. Attorneys state Balaji's parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, requested even more examination into his death however were told the case was already closed.
"The claim demands that the city, police department, and medical examiner release public files kept under the general public Records Act," Joseph Goethals, attorney for the petitioners, informed Decrypt. He said that if the files weren't offered within 10 days, and "no legitimate exceptions apply, a claim can force their release. We will seek a court order to obtain them."
The claim claims that SFPD broke the California Public Records Act by unlawfully withholding public records of the case. Attorneys for Ramarao and Ramamurthy also argued that the investigation into their kid's death was hurried and insufficient, pipewiki.org with officials overlooking key forensic findings and failing to address their ask for more inquiry.
The claim demands the instant disclosure of all reports, pictures, and setiathome.berkeley.edu videos, together with protection of legal expenses.
Said Geothals: "If the San Francisco Superior Court does not interpret and impose the law correctly, we will seek 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 quantities" of data taken from the internet without permission.
According to the claim, in December, Balaji's household hired forensic pathologist Dr. Joseph Cohen to perform a private autopsy. In his report, Dr. Cohen determined that there was a single gunshot wound 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 small left-to-right angle, completely missing out on the brain before lodging in the brainstem, according to the fit. Dr. Cohen identified a contusion on the back of Balaji's head, which he said raised even more concerns about the circumstances of his death.
The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately react to a demand for comment by Decrypt.
The claim called out the scenarios 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 discoveries, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pressed back on the New york city Times' claims. Speaking at the paper's annual DealBook Summit, Altman dismissed the claims.