San Francisco: Poornima Rao, mother of whistleblower and former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji, accused the AI giant of being involved in her son’s death. In an interview with commentator Tucker Carlson, she alleged that her son had evidence against OpenAI, which, she claimed, led to his death.
Suchir Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment in November, just a day after celebrating his birthday. Officials initially ruled his death as suicide, but his family has raised serious concerns, alleging that the case was mishandled and calling for an FBI investigation.
Suchir Balaji’s mother’s allegations against OpenAI
Rao claimed that her son had documents exposing questionable practices by OpenAI. She said, “My son had documents against OpenAI. They attacked him and killed him.” She also alleged that some important documents went missing from his apartment after his death.
The grieving mother said her son was not depressed and had no reason to end his life. “He celebrated his birthday the day before he died. He was happy. What more proof do we need to show he wasn’t suicidal?” she said, adding that he had even received a birthday gift from his father on the same day he was found dead.
Rao criticized San Francisco authorities for declaring her son’s death a suicide without a thorough investigation. She revealed that the medical examiner took only 14 minutes to determine the cause of death. “It was cold-blooded murder declared as suicide,” she said, citing signs of a struggle in her son’s apartment. She claimed the bathroom showed bloodstains and that the apartment was ransacked.
The mother also accused the police of withholding information and delaying responses. She recounted how they handed over the apartment keys but refused to answer questions, leaving her to pick up her son’s body the following day.
What Elon Musk said
Elon Musk shared Rao’s interview on his social media platform X, describing the claims as “extremely concerning.”
Extremely concerning
pic.twitter.com/ze1mmlIMdD
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2025
Suchir Balaji had worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before resigning in August 2023. According to his family, he became increasingly disillusioned with the company’s shift to a for-profit model. He had publicly raised ethical concerns about OpenAI’s operations and had spoken out against the company in an interview with The New York Times.
His mother believes his whistleblowing efforts made him a target. “Everybody is suppressed, nobody is ready to come up and tell the truth,” she said, accusing OpenAI of silencing witnesses and attorneys.
San Francisco police department reopened the case as an “active investigation” but has not shared further details. Meanwhile, Rao and her husband have demanded that FBI take over the investigation to uncover the truth.
In earlier social media posts, Rao described her son as someone who was passionate about ethics in technology. She remains firm in her belief that his death was not a suicide, saying, “We will not stop until justice is served for our son.”
