One and a half years after Suchir Balaji’s mysterious death in San Francisco and his parents said they are not giving up the fight to prove that it was not a suicide. In a fresh interview with ABC7, his parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, said their private investigation through a former FBI official is going on and they have received tremendous support for their son’s case.OpenAI researcher-turned-whistleblower Suchir Balaji was found dead in his home in November 2024. The medical examiner ruled the death a suicide but his parents never believed and held OpenAI and Sam Altman responsible for the death. A month before Balaji’s death, he gave an interview to The New York Times, where he said OpenAI was breaking the law. He said OpenAI violated US copyright law when they developed ChatGPT. Three months after his accusation and one month after his NYT interview, he was dead.Balaji’s parents attended the recent trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI. They said they wanted to support Elon Musk and also they wanted everyone to know about Suchir Balaji’s case.Elon Musk responded to the new interview of Balaji’s parents and wrote: “Important to know what really happened”. Musk had been supporting the parents’ allegation of ‘foul play’. Podcaster Katie Miller, the wife of White House adviser Stephen Miller, supported the parents in their search for the truth. Balaji’s mother Poornima Rao said the FBI did not provide much help, Sam Altman was not even questioned and they (the parents) had to learn investigating details like blood splatter analysis, crime scene pictures to reach the truth. “He just celebrated his 26th birthday the previous day, cutting his cake, happily coming home,” his mother said, asserting that he would never harm himself, he was very courageous. “Sometimes I hug his clothes,” the mother saidBalaji’s parents said they have now turned to full-time advocacy with Suchir Balaji Foundation and also have a plan to create scholarships. They have connected with whistleblower groups and they now plan to spend time in Washington DC“Let there be some protection. Let’s say somebody whistle blows against a company, there should be some protection,” Ramarao said. “And if somebody is a court witness… somebody has to protect them.”
