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The family of Suchir Balaji state he was killed and didn't kill himself. Now they've taken legal action against San Francisco and its police department.

Decrypt's Art, Fashion, and Entertainment Hub.

The parents of deceased OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji have actually taken legal action against the city of San Francisco and the San Francisco Police Department, declaring that the genuine reason for his death was not suicide, however murder.

The claim, submitted in January, declares that the SFPD concealed the criminal offense, ruling it a suicide without performing an extensive investigation.

Balaji, who had actually worked as a scientist at OpenAI, was found dead in his San Francisco home last November. Attorneys say Balaji's parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, asked for even more investigation into his death however were informed the case was already closed.

"The claim demands that the city, police department, and medical inspector release public files kept under the Public Records Act," Joseph Goethals, attorney for the petitioners, told Decrypt. He said that if the files weren't supplied within 10 days, and "no valid exceptions apply, a claim can compel their release. We will seek a court order to obtain them."

The claim claims that SFPD broke the California Public Records Act by unlawfully keeping public records of the case. Attorneys for Ramarao and Ramamurthy also argued that the examination into their child's death was rushed and insufficient, with officials overlooking essential forensic findings and failing to address their ask for additional inquiry.

The claim requires the immediate disclosure of all reports, pictures, and videos, along with protection of legal expenses.

Said Geothals: "If the San Francisco Superior Court does not translate and enforce the law properly, we will look for option with the Court of Appeal. We hope it doesn't pertain to that."

Balaji worked for OpenAI from November 2020 to August 2024. In an interview with The New york city Times in October, he said that before the general public launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, he had assisted OpenAI collect and use "massive amounts" of information drawn from the web without authorization.

According to the claim, in December, Balaji's household hired forensic pathologist Dr. Joseph Cohen to carry out a personal autopsy. In his report, Dr. Cohen determined that there was a single gunshot injury in the mid-forehead, wiki.rolandradio.net a little to the right of the bridge of his nose.

Dr. Cohen said that the bullet trajectory was unusual for a suicide, as it traveled downward at a slight left-to-right angle, totally missing out on the brain before lodging in the brainstem, according to the fit. Dr. Cohen identified a contusion on the back of Balaji's head, which he said raised even more concerns about the circumstances of his death.

The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately react to an ask for remark by Decrypt.

The claim called out the situations of Bilaji's death. His body was discovered a week after The New York Times mentioned the in a court filing related to its claim against OpenAI.

Despite Balaji's revelations, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pressed back on the New York Times' claims. Speaking at the paper's annual DealBook Summit, Altman dismissed the claims.