Alarming new details have emerged regarding the death of an OpenAI whistleblower who was found dead in his home.
The parents of 26-year-old former OpenAI employee Suchir Balaji are disputing official findings that their son’s death was a suicide.
After conducting their own investigations and a private autopsy with an independent medical examiner, the parents allege that Balaji was killed by two gunshots to the head.
Balaji’s parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, argue that a second gunshot wound to his head was missed in the initial autopsy.
The young tech worker was found dead in his apartment in the Mint Hill neighborhood of San Francisco on November 26.
Authorities initially reported that he had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
His death came just weeks after he reportedly provided information to The New York Times.
Balaji, who worked as a developer on the company’s ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI) software, alleged that OpenAI was engaging in copyright violations.
He told the Times that OpenAI was using copyrighted material for the training of its artificial intelligence systems.
Following the official ruling of suicide by the medical examiner, Balaji’s parents raised concerns about the circumstances surrounding their son’s