The household of Suchir Balaji say he was killed and didn't kill himself. Now they've taken legal action against San Francisco and its cops department.

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The moms and dads of departed OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji have taken legal action against the city of San Francisco and the San Francisco Police Department, alleging that the genuine reason for his death was not suicide, but murder.

The claim, submitted in January, alleges that the SFPD covered up the criminal activity, ruling it a suicide without conducting a .

Balaji, who had worked as a scientist at OpenAI, was discovered dead in his San Francisco house last November. Attorneys say Balaji's parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, requested even more investigation into his death but were informed the case was currently closed.

"The claim demands that the city, police department, and medical examiner release public documents withheld under the Public Records Act," Joseph Goethals, lawyer for the petitioners, told Decrypt. He said that if the files weren't provided within 10 days, asteroidsathome.net and "no legitimate exceptions apply, a claim can oblige their release. We will seek 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 boy's death was hurried and insufficient, with officials neglecting key forensic findings and failing to address their ask for further query.

The claim demands the instant disclosure of all reports, pictures, and videos, along with coverage of legal expenses.

Said Geothals: "If the San Francisco Superior Court does not analyze and enforce the law correctly, we will seek 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 city Times in October, he said that before the general public launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, he had helped OpenAI collect and use "enormous quantities" of information drawn from the web without permission.

According to the claim, in December, Balaji's household worked with forensic pathologist Dr. Joseph Cohen to carry out a personal autopsy. In his report, Dr. Cohen determined that there was a single gunshot injury in the mid-forehead, a little to the right of the bridge of his nose.

Dr. Cohen said that the bullet trajectory was uncommon for a suicide, as it traveled downward at a small left-to-right angle, completely missing out on 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 questions about the circumstances of his death.

The San Francisco Police Department did not instantly react to a demand for remark by Decrypt.

The claim called out the scenarios of Bilaji's death. His body was found a week after The New york city Times pointed out the whistleblower in a court filing associated to its claim against OpenAI.

Despite Balaji's revelations, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pushed back on the New york city Times' claims. Speaking at the newspaper's yearly DealBook Summit, Altman dismissed the claims.