New York: Was OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji’s death not a suicide? That’s what his mother has claimed in various media reports. The 26-year-old researcher’s mother, Poornima Rao, alleged foul play in her son’s death. Rao claimed that a private investigator’s probe contradicted the police’s version of the case, reported the India Today. Interestingly, Rao has claimed to have used ChatGPT—which has been created by OpenAI itself— to determine that the blood stains found in her son’s apartment don’t resemble a case of suicide.
‘Elon Musk believes that my son’s death is a murder’
She has also claimed that Elon Musk believes that her son’s death was a murder, the CNN-News 18 reported. She reiterated that police had not done much to investigate her son’s mysterious death in San Francisco. Earlier this month, Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment. “Lobbying is very powerful in San Francisco,” Poornima Rao told CNN-News18. Elon Musk has also supported Rao’s claims in a post on X.
Demands an FIB investigation, seeks MEA’s intervention
Poornima Rao has also demanded an FBI investigation into her son’s death. She claimed to have found that her son’s apartment was ransacked and had signs of struggle in the bathroom. “There were signs of a fight in the bathroom and when we fed the picture to ChatGPT, we found that the splatter of blood is not like what it is supposed to be as per the cause of death. We also found separate blood spots in the bathroom that indicate he may have been hit. There was also no suicide note left,” Poornima told India Today, seeking intervention of the India’s External Affairs Ministry into the matter.
What did San Francisco police say?
The Police in San Francisco has ruled out any foul play. “No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation,” police had said. The San Francisco Chief Medical Examiner’s Office determined Suchir Balaji’s death a suicide. His mother hired a private investigator and conducted a second autopsy. The private investigator reportedly contradicted police’s claim. “The attorney said we checked all the CCTV, no one came in, no one went out. After that, the decision to declare it to be a case of suicide was made. We mentioned that there are 3 entrances. Two of them, one through the garage and one through the backdoor, don’t have CCTV. However, the police are not listening to us,” she told the India Today.
“My son wanted to make difference…”
His mother claimed that there was a lot of corruption in the tech industry there. “My son wanted to make a difference to mankind. He was working on a project called ‘Futura Doctor Visit’. Our dreams have been snatched away from us,” she told India Today. Balaji, former OpenAI researcher had accused the artificial intelligence company of copyright violations shortly after resigning from the firm in August.
