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.

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The parents of deceased OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji have actually taken legal action against the city of San Francisco and the San Francisco Police Department, setiathome.berkeley.edu alleging that the genuine cause of his death was not suicide, however murder.

The claim, filed in January, alleges that the SFPD covered up the criminal activity, ruling it a suicide without carrying out a thorough investigation.

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

"The claim demands that the city, authorities 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 documents weren't offered within 10 days, and "no valid exceptions use, a claim can compel their release. We will look for a court order to obtain them."

The claim claims that SFPD violated 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 child's death was hurried and inadequate, with officials disregarding essential forensic findings and failing to address their requests for macphersonwiki.mywikis.wiki more questions.

The claim requires the immediate disclosure of all reports, images, and videos, in addition to coverage of legal costs.

Said Geothals: "If the San Francisco Superior Court does not interpret 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 collect and utilize "massive quantities" of data taken from the web without permission.

According to the claim, in December, Balaji's family worked with forensic pathologist Dr. Joseph Cohen to carry out a private autopsy. In his report, Dr. Cohen figured out that there was a single gunshot injury 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 small left-to-right angle, completely missing the brain before lodging in the brainstem, according to the suit. Dr. Cohen recognized a contusion on the back of Balaji's head, which he said raised further concerns about the circumstances of his death.

The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately react to a request 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 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 yearly DealBook Summit, Altman dismissed the claims.