The parents of Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old tech whistleblower who died in November 2024, have filed a lawsuit against the City and County of San Francisco. They allege the city violated public records laws by withholding information related to their son's death, which was officially ruled a suicide.
Balaji, a former OpenAI employee, had publicly accused the AI company of copyright infringement related to ChatGPT's training data. His parents contend that several factors surrounding his death are inconsistent with suicide and suggest the possibility of homicide. They claim they've been stonewalled in their attempts to obtain information from authorities.
Balaji's work at OpenAI involved gathering and organizing data used to train the language model behind ChatGPT. He left the company in August 2024 to pursue independent projects, shortly before his allegations against OpenAI were published in a New York Times article.
The family's attorney, Kevin Rooney, expressed concerns about inconsistencies surrounding the death, stating, "We really feel that there's a lot of things that are known to us that are inconsistent with suicide and would suggest … that his death was the result of a homicide." The lawsuit claims that Balaji was in good spirits just days before his death.
The family also alleges that investigators dismissed their concerns about Balaji's whistleblower status and the potential connection to his death. They are seeking access to police records under the California Public Records Act, claiming they have a legal right to this information.
A private autopsy commissioned by the family reportedly found an atypical gunshot wound and a contusion on the back of Balaji's head, raising further questions about the circumstances of his death.
The San Francisco City Attorney's Office has stated they will review the complaint and respond accordingly once they are served.
