If We Dig Deeper...: Why OpenAI Whistleblower Suchir Balaji's Parents Want FBI to Probe His Death

San Francisco:The sudden death of OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji has shocked the world. Amid growing suspense surrounding the death of the 26-year-old, his parents have expressed disbelief, asserting that Suchir was "extremely brave" and could not have taken his own life. They have also called for an FBI investigation into the matter.

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*.

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.

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 Ramarao, responded, "I think it's a little difficult for me to repeat that over and over again. But it was a couple of days before we heard from him. Then we filed a police complaint and called the police to open the door. That’s how we found him. But unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to go inside as per protocol. We haven’t received any pictures from the crime scene yet. At this moment, there are still many questions. The fact that we are here shows that he was very brave and never backed down in any situation. He was extremely brave. What we feel is that it doesn’t add up. The way he went public, spoke openly about it, and had a publication—someone that bold cannot take such a step."

Musk's Reaction to Suchir's Death

Earlier, in a tweet, Poornima Ramarao revealed that they had hired a private investigator to look into the case: "We hired a private investigator and conducted a second autopsy to shed light on the cause of death. The private autopsy does not confirm the cause of death stated by the police."

"Suchir’s apartment was ransacked, there were signs of a struggle in the bathroom, and it looks like someone hit him there based on blood spots," she added.

"There was a sign of struggle in the bathroom and it looks like someone hit him in the bathroom based on blood spots," she said.

"It's a cold-blooded murder declared by authorities as suicide. Lobbying in SF city doesn't stop us from getting justice," she added while demanding a probe by FBI.

In reaction to the post, Elon Musk commented, "This doesn't seem like a suicide."

The family has also started a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for litigation and to conduct a detailed investigation.

The parents of Suchir Balaji are demanding for an FBI investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.

'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 Did Not 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."

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."