Category: News

The official cause of death of a 26-year-old OpenAI whistleblower late last year is coming under increasing scrutiny from his family, with evidence mounting that a suicide determination was incorrect. In November, Suchir Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment after having left OpenAI earlier in the year, publicly voicing concerns over alleged copyright violations by the company in developing its ChatGPT chatbot.

During a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, Balaji’s mother, Poornima Ramarao, claims her son had documents in his possession that would be extremely damaging to OpenAI in ongoing copyright litigation. Ramarao insists the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner did not conduct a thorough investigation into her son’s death—declaring the case a suicide after a 40-minute long examination. Officials told Ramarao that her son’s suicide was the result of a single gunshot wound to the head.

“Right from that moment, I see foul play,” she tells Carlson, adding: “Proper formalities were not followed. And the next day, they release the body—within 24 hours, without doing the complete autopsy. They removed the bullet.”

In addition, Carlson notes the crime scene photos do not appear indicative of a suicide. “[T]hese photographs show that that’s not at all what happened, because there’s blood all over the apartment. There’s blood on the door, on the floor, in the bathroom. There’s blood everywhere,” he states. Balaji’s mother also contends the funeral home that prepared her son for burial told her the actions of the medical examiner “[did not] seem normal, there’s something very unusual here” and that the family should pursue a “second, private autopsy.”

OUTSIDE INVESTIGATION.

“The way the information was given to us, and the way the procedures and policies need to be followed… norms were not followed,” Ramarao says.

Even more troubling, Ramarao claims the bullet appears to have been fired from a high angle “…about 30 to 45 degrees downward — it missed the brain.”  She continues: “There’s a head injury on the left side of the head. The victim was sitting down. He was made to sit, and someone standing shot down.”

According to Balaji’s mother, the family is awaiting the results of the independent medical examination—which includes a CT scan of another area of her son’s head that appears to have been subjected to blunt force trauma. Meanwhile, despite some claims on social media that the investigation into Balaji’s death had been reopened, Ramarao disputes this and asserts the family’s attorney has not been informed of any such action.

The necessity of the independent examination is underscored by revelations that David Serrano Sewell, the executive director of San Francisco’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the man who announced Balaji’s death was a suicide, was accused early in 2024 of losing a human skull that was considered critical in identifying a deceased individual. Sonia Kominek-Adachi, a former death examiner for the city, is suing the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for retaliation, claiming she was fired after discovering Serrano Sewell had likely thrown the skull away while hurriedly cleaning before an inspection.