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Updated 10:45 IST, February 4th 2025

OpenAI Whistleblower Suchir Balaji’s Parents Sue San Francisco Police Over Denial of Death Investigation Report

The parents of OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji have filed a lawsuit against the SFD for allegedly withholding reports related to the death investigation.

Reported by: Digital Desk
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 Suchir Balaji’s Parents Sue San Francisco Police Over Denial of Death Investigation Report
Suchir Balaji’s Parents Sue San Francisco Police Over Denial of Death Investigation Report | Image: X

The parents of OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, have filed a lawsuit against the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) for allegedly withholding reports related to the investigation into their son's death.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday, seeks access to records from the investigation and claims that SFPD officials informed the family in December that the department had closed the case.

However, despite this communication, the SFPD has denied their request, made under the California Public Records Act, for a copy of the investigation report, according to the suit filed by Ramarao and Ramamurthy.

In the lawsuit, the parents accuse the San Francisco Police Department of "illegally withholding public records" that could provide important information about the circumstances surrounding Balaji's death.

The legal action has been taken as the family continues to question the circumstances of his death, despite the case being labeled a "suicide" by the San Francisco medical examiner. The police department maintains that his death was a suicide.

Poornima Ramarao took to X to share that the family has sued the San Francisco Police Department, saying, "Justice for Suchir Balaji @SFPD denied police reports of death investigation of Suchir Balaji. They violated CPRA. We have sued @SFPD for cover-up of death. This preventing of knowing the complete truth itself makes it evident that there is foul play."

According to Kevin Rooney, a Stockton-based attorney representing Balaji’s parents, SFPD officials had earlier stated the investigation was over and they had determined Balaji died by suicide. However, they also stated it was still an open investigation and therefore could not release their report.

“They can’t have it both ways," he said.

What Happened to Suchir Balaji?

Balaji, a former OpenAI researcher, was found dead in a San Francisco apartment. His family disputed the suicide ruling, pointing to inconsistencies and suggesting a possible cover-up. The case has attracted the attention of notable figures such as Elon Musk and has raised concerns regarding Balaji's whistleblowing actions.

He openly criticized the use of copyrighted data in artificial intelligence (AI), was found dead in his San Francisco apartment. Balaji, a computer science graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, had interned with OpenAI and Scale AI during his college years.

He joined OpenAI in 2019, and during his four years at the company, he worked on several projects, including GPT-4 training and improving ChatGPT’s performance. He left OpenAI in August this year, expressing concerns over the potential harm OpenAI could cause. During his tenure, he played a significant role in data collection for OpenAI's flagship product, ChatGPT. On his personal website, Mr. Balaji elaborated on his concerns, claiming that OpenAI's method of copying data for training its models potentially amounted to copyright infringement.

Suchir Balaji had acusedc OpenAI of training its AI models on copyrighted material scraped from the internet without proper authorization, a practice he argued was detrimental. The Indian-origin tech professional resigned from OpenAI in October 2023 after nearly four years with the company.

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Published 08:32 IST, February 4th 2025