Poornima Rao, the mother of whistleblower and former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji, has launched fresh criticism against the AI giant. Her son, who was found dead in his San Francisco apartment in November, had publicly raised ethical concerns about OpenAI’s practices before his death, which authorities initially ruled as a suicide. However, his family has since called for an FBI investigation, alleging murder.
Speaking to an influencer on X, Ms Rao accused OpenAI of failing to recognise her son’s contributions to their flagship product, ChatGPT. “He did something to fine-tune ChatGPT that made it faster and more efficient,” she told X user Mario Nawfal. “But what bothered him was that there was no recognition for his work until he passed away. Even now, there’s no acknowledgement from OpenAI of his contributions. That’s very unfortunate.”
Mr Balaji, who worked at OpenAI for nearly four years, resigned in August 2023 after expressing dissatisfaction with the company’s shift to a for-profit model. According to his mother, this shift was a key factor in his decision to leave.
Ms Rao and her husband, Balaji Ramamurthy, have claimed that the circumstances of their son’s death do not align with a suicide. In a series of public statements, they revealed details from a second autopsy they commissioned, which they say shows signs of a struggle, including a head injury. Ms Rao also alleged that Mr Balaji’s apartment had been ransacked and that blood stains in the bathroom indicated he had been struck.
The San Francisco Police Department has reportedly reopened the case as an “active investigation,” but it has not shared further details. “We demand the FBI step in to uncover the truth. This is a cold-blooded murder that’s being covered up as a suicide,” Ms Rao said.
Mr Balaji had been vocal about ethical and legal issues he observed during his time at OpenAI. In an interview with The New York Times shortly before his death, he alleged that the company’s AI models were trained on copyrighted material scraped from the internet without authorisation. In his personal blog, Mr Balaji further elaborated on his concerns, stating, “This is not a sustainable model for the internet ecosystem as a whole.”
OpenAI has consistently denied these allegations, maintaining that their use of data falls within the bounds of “fair use” under US copyright law.
Elon Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI who has since become a vocal critic of the organisation, has amplified the family’s concerns. “This doesn’t seem like a suicide,” Mr Musk, who stepped away from OpenAI in 2018, had shared on X.
The Tesla chief also reshared the family’s latest interview with Mr Nawfal.
