The parents of an AI tech prodigy and whistleblower who died from a gunshot wound to the head believe he was murdered, despite investigators' determination that the death was a suicide.
Suchir Balaji, 26, once was a researcher for OpenAI, earning $350,000 while living in San Francisco, News Nation reported. The tech prodigy eventually became disillusioned with the company and went public with claims that OpenAI was violating copyright laws in training its systems.
His claims were covered by the New York Times in August 2024 and he was named as a potential witness in a lawsuit filed by the newspaper against OpenAI about those copyright claims. In Novembe he was found dead in his apartment, News Nation reported.
"I don't believe it was a suicide based on what I've seen," Kevin Rooney, the attorney representing Balaji's family, told NewsNation. "It's not impossible to do, but it's an odd angle to shoot oneself that way, not just in the forehead, but also at a downward angle."
The family has sued San Francisco, challenging the ruling of suicide and hiring private experts to examine physical evidence. However, authorities contend that there is clear evidence Balaji killed himself.
Authorities have said that Balaji had alcohol and amphetamine in his system and had been searching on his computer information about brain anatomy, the San Francisco Examiner reported. Physical evidence included the finding of gunshot residue on both his hands and Balaji's DNA on a pistol found under his leg.
The pistol was Balaji's and was registered to him. In a letter to the family, police noted that there were no signs of forced entry, the door was locked, and the deadbolt engaged at the time of Balaji's death. There was no indication from video or key fob records that anyone else entered the apartment, and there was no other entrance.
"[Authorities] found no evidence or information to establish a cause and manner of death for Mr. Balaji other than a suicide by self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head," police Chief Bill Scott and David Serrano Sewell, executive director of the Chief Medical Examiner's Office, said in the letter regarding the case, the San Francisco Examiner reported.
