'Extremely Brave, Cannot Take His Life': Open AI Whistleblower Suchir Balaji's Parents Demand Probe | EXCLUSIVE

New Delhi: Amid growing suspense surrounding the death of Suchir Balaji, the parents of the OpenAI whistleblower have expressed disbelief, asserting that Suchir was 'extremely brave and could not have taken his own life'. According to the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Balaji died by suicide in his apartment. Before his death, he had raised serious concerns about OpenAI’s alleged copyright violations in an interview with The New York Times. Today, in an exclusive interview with Republic Media Network's Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami , Suchir Balaji's mother, Poornima Ramarao, revealed startling new details about her son's death, suggesting the possibility of foul play.  

Here Are The Excerpts From The Interview

When asked, "Is there something that either of you would like to say regarding Suchir and how he was found dead? Suchir's mother Poornima Rama Rao said,"I think it's a little difficult for me to repeat that over and over again. But it was a couple of days since we were not hearing from him. And then we filed a police complaint and called the police to come and open the door. That's how we found it through. But unfortunately, we were not as per the protocol. We were not allowed to go inside. We haven't received the pictures from the crime scene yet. At this moment, it's a lot of questions in front of us. The fact that we have come here shows that he was very brave and he was not backing off in any situation. He was extremely brave. What we feel is it doesn't really add up that the way he went public and he openly spoke about it and he had a publication. Someone who is that bold cannot take this kind of step."

‘He Had a Blast of His Life’

When Arnab talked about Suchir's holiday where he is seen as perfectly fine and asked if there is nothing which can indicate he would take his own life, Suchir's mother said, "Nothing. He was actually, he had a blast of his life. It's a tragedy that November 21st was his birthday. He celebrated his birthday dinner with friends, and cut his cake on the 21st evening. 27th he headed back to LA. When Suchir got out of Uber in front of his apartment complex, leasing office manager Corey saw him and spoke to Suchir. He was happy. And we also spoke to his friends who accompanied him to the trip to LA and Catalina Island. We have the pictures. And they also confirmed he was upbeat and happy. He had a blast. You know, he became a whistleblower against the most powerful AI company in the entire world.  

When Arnab queried did they speak to him (Suchir) about his decision to go public about his concerns and what he knew about the inner workings at OpenAI or in the field of artificial intelligence? And was there pressure on him after he went public?  

Poornima said, "First of all, he never shared that he is taking New York Times interview with anyone. But what he had told me was he's doing, he's doing personal research and he's going to publish an article. Let's see what happens. Like, kind of like a warrior-like tone. He said, let's see what happens. But I only got to know after the New York Times interview went live. I was really, really scared. I called up a few of the friends, and family friends to see what's the implication of it. I talked to Suchir and said, look, you should consult an attorney.  He did consult a copyright attorney. And also, he kept saying, like, you know, like, I've not done anything wrong. And I've just spoken, expressed my opinion. What can happen from it? That's how his reaction was.

"Coming back to the concern, last time when we met, he did mention that a lot of people, a lot of his colleagues have left OpenAI and they had their concerns of their own. And Suchir's concern was more of the copyright violation. And my response to that was, it's unethical. I don't think he was under any kind of pressure because the last time I met him, he was beaming with pride that he'd spoken against OpenAI. There was no such pressure seen in him", Poornima added.

'He Had Planned to Legal Action Against OpenAI'

When Arnab raised concerns about the possibility of Suchir going public with more information or data, Suchir's mother responded, "He's already gone. The New York Times reported, he said he had a document to prove that there is a copyright violation. He had planned and lined up interviews with many other press, for example, the Associated Press on December 2nd. On December 3rd, the Associated Press called on his mobile phone and we took the phone. We knew that he was planning to take a legal action against OpenAI. We are yet to discover what that legal action is and what his concerns were."

She asserted,"We need to get hold of his devices and explore further, do more forensic analysis to get to know what his concerns were. But my personal thinking is there might have been a threat in some form or the other. If we dig deeper, we will get it."

'Where Are The Data, Documents?'

When Arnab questioned about Suchir's data and documents, Poornima said,"We have the laptop and computer in a safe lock. And when we went to his apartment, we found that after three days, his computer was turned on and we were able to see the computer. That's a big surprise to us because he's a very secretive person. And we knew that there was a password to it. How were they able to get access to his desktop? Not the laptop. On the desktop, we observed the temp files under Google Chrome. We only see those temp lines for Google Chrome and Google Drive, only from the 29th when we picked up his desktop, not before that. So that's something that we are trying to explore through digital forensics. We are yet to begin all those initiatives and we are taking it very seriously, doing a thorough investigation."

‘He DidNot Connect With Anyone at OpenAI’

When Arnab asked Did anyone from OpenAI get in touch with Suchir after he became a whistleblower? Poornima said,"We have chat logged with Suchir. I don't think he connected with anyone with OpenAI."

‘On Seeking Elon Musk’s Help'

When queried about their her to Elon Musk for help, Poornamia said, "We cannot leave this as an unexplained event. It's far too tragic and far too significant. Yes, our plan is to get many different investigators, not just one, a group of investigators to be involved. And we want to get to the bottom of this issue. People are saying a lot of things. There are many pointers that we were not aware of. Because of holidays last week, we weren't able to reach many people. But this week, it's going to go full fledge." 

She added,"It's about the investment of hundreds of billions of dollars.  We need someone powerful like Elon to support our cause. That's where we're going."

OpenAI Whistleblower Suchir Balaji's Parents Speak To Arnab  | WATCH FULL INTERVIEW