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

The claim, iuridictum.pecina.cz filed in January, alleges that the SFPD covered up the criminal activity, ruling it a suicide without performing an extensive examination.

Balaji, who had worked as a researcher at OpenAI, was discovered dead in his San Francisco house last November. Attorneys say Balaji's parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, requested further investigation into his death but were told the case was already closed.

"The claim demands that the city, authorities department, and medical examiner release public documents withheld under the Public Records Act," Joseph Goethals, lawyer for bytes-the-dust.com the petitioners, told Decrypt. He said that if the files weren't provided within 10 days, and "no valid exceptions apply, a claim can oblige their release. We will seek a court order to obtain them."

The claim claims that SFPD breached the California Public Records Act by unlawfully withholding public records of the case. Attorneys for Ramarao and Ramamurthy likewise argued that the investigation into their kid's death was rushed and inadequate, with authorities disregarding key forensic findings and failing to address their requests for more questions.

The claim requires the instant disclosure of all reports, pictures, and videos, in addition to protection of legal expenses.

Said Geothals: "If the San Francisco Superior Court does not analyze and impose the law correctly, we will look for 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, coastalplainplants.org he said that before the general public launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, he had actually helped OpenAI collect and utilize "huge quantities" of information drawn from the web without approval.

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 determined 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 unusual for a suicide, as it took a trip downward at a slight left-to-right angle, entirely missing out on the brain before lodging in the brainstem, according to the match. Dr. Cohen identified a contusion on the back of Balaji's head, which he said raised further questions about the circumstances of his death.

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

The claim called out the circumstances 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 revelations, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pushed back on the New York Times' claims. Speaking at the newspaper's annual DealBook Summit, Altman dismissed the claims.