"It doesn’t look like a normal situation."
Former OpenAI employee Suchir Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment in November 2024.
The San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said his death was ruled as a suicide.
His death came a month after Suchir expressed his concerns with OpenAI, particularly for its use of data sourced from the internet to train its AI models which he felt was violating copyright laws.
Suchir helped train OpenAI’s AI models, however, he resigned in August 2024 after becoming uncomfortable with the company’s way of handling data.
Despite his death being ruled as suicide, his parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy doubt their son took his own life, with his mother saying:
“This is not a normal situation.”
Poornima remembered her son as a brilliant child who showed signs of talent from an early age.
She recalled that when he was two, he could form complex sentences.
When Suchir was 13, he built his own computer.
At 17, he was recruited by Quora to work for them despite his mother’s initial hesitations.
Suchir Balaji went on to win a $100,000 prize in a TSA-sponsored challenge while studying at UC Berkeley.
His talents led him to OpenAI in 2018 where he quickly became a key team member, contributing to the development of ChatGPT.
But over time, Suchir became disillusioned with OpenAI’s shift away from its original mission of ensuring AI benefited humanity.
By 2023, he was openly critical of CEO Sam Altman and the company’s direction.
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?'”
Just hours before his death, Suchir celebrated his birthday and seemed happy.
Poornima spoke with Suchir on the phone the day before his body was found.
“He was upbeat and happy. What can go wrong within a few hours that his life is lost?”
The family has requested a private autopsy, and they are continuing to push for a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding Suchir’s death.
Poornima added: “We want to leave the question open. It doesn’t look like a normal situation.”
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