The household of Suchir Balaji say he was murdered and didn't kill himself. Now they have actually taken legal action against San Francisco and tandme.co.uk its authorities department.

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The moms and dads of departed OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji have taken legal action against the city of San Francisco and the San Francisco Police Department, alleging that the genuine cause of his death was not suicide, however murder.

The claim, submitted in January, declares that the SFPD covered the criminal activity, ruling it a suicide without carrying out a thorough investigation.

Balaji, who had actually worked as a researcher at OpenAI, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment last November. Attorneys state Balaji's moms and dads, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, asked for even more investigation into his death but were informed the case was already closed.

"The claim requires that the city, cops department, and medical inspector release public documents kept under the Public Records Act," Joseph Goethals, lawyer for the petitioners, told Decrypt. He said that if the documents weren't provided within 10 days, and "no valid exceptions apply, a claim can force their release. We will look for a court order to obtain them."

The claim claims that SFPD violated the California Public Records Act by unlawfully keeping public records of the case. Attorneys for Ramarao and Ramamurthy likewise argued that the examination into their boy's death was rushed and inadequate, with authorities neglecting crucial forensic findings and failing to resolve their ask for additional query.

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

Said Geothals: "If the San Francisco Superior Court does not interpret and enforce the law properly, we will seek 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 public launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, he had helped OpenAI gather and use "enormous amounts" of information drawn from the internet without .

According to the claim, in December, Balaji's family worked with forensic pathologist Dr. Joseph Cohen to perform a private autopsy. In his report, Dr. Cohen figured out that there was a single gunshot wound in the mid-forehead, slightly to the right of the bridge of his nose.

Dr. Cohen said that the bullet trajectory was uncommon for a suicide, as it took a trip downward at a slight left-to-right angle, completely missing out on the brain before lodging in the brainstem, according to the suit. 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 right away react to a demand for remark by Decrypt.

The claim called out the scenarios of Bilaji's death. His body was found a week after The New york city Times pointed out the whistleblower in a court filing associated to its claim against OpenAI.

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