"It’s a cold-blooded murder declared by authorities as suicide."
Elon Musk has reacted to Suchir Balaji’s death, backing his mother’s claims about foul play.
Suchir, a former OpenAI employee, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment.
His death came a few weeks after he accused OpenAI of violating copyright laws.
Suchir’s death was ruled as suicide and San Francisco police said there is “no evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation”.
Despite the ruling, there is scepticism over whether Suchir took his own life, particularly due to the short time between his interview about OpenAI and his death.
His mother Poornima Ramarao has cast doubt on the police’s conclusion and has called for an FBI investigation.
She wrote on X: “We hired a private investigator and did a second autopsy to throw light on the cause of death.
“Private autopsy doesn’t confirm the cause of death stated by police.
“Suchir’s apartment was ransacked, signs of struggle in the bathroom and looks like someone hit him in the bathroom based on blood spots.
“It’s a cold-blooded murder declared by authorities as suicide.”
Elon Musk reacted to the tweet and agreed with Poornima:
“This doesn’t seem like a suicide.”
After seeing his tweet, Poornima replied: “Please support us.”
This doesn’t seem like a suicide
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2024
Musk’s suspicions came after he shared a cryptic tweet when news of Suchir Balaji’s death came out. He wrote at the time: “Hmmm.”
Suchir Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years, playing a big role in data collection for its AI tool ChatGPT.
But after its release in 2022, he began critically examining the legal and ethical dimensions of OpenAI’s practices.
By mid-2023, he concluded that these AI technologies were harmful to both the internet and society, leading to his decision to resign.
In a New York Times interview in October 2024, Suchir accused OpenAI of using copyrighted data to train ChatGPT.
He said: “If you believe what I believe, you have to just leave the company.
“This is not a sustainable model for the internet ecosystem as a whole.”
Poornima said: “He felt AI is a harm to humanity.”
Speaking about their last conversation, Poornima said she urged her son to be careful in his fight against OpenAI.
She elaborated: “I literally blasted him, ‘You should not go alone. Why did you give your picture? Why did you give your name? Why don’t you stay anonymous? What’s the need for you to give your picture?’”
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