Parents of OpenAI Whistleblower File Lawsuit for Son’s Police, Toxicology Reports

By Ritu Jha-

The parents of Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI researcher and whistleblower, have filed a lawsuit seeking access to police and toxicology reports related to their son’s death. Balaji was found dead in a San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26.

Petitioners Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy state in court documents that they have been living “every parent’s worst nightmare” since their son’s death. The lawsuit alleges that the City and County of San Francisco are illegally withholding public records, violating the California Public Records Act (CPRA).

“Petitioners and their counsel have been stymied at every turn as they have sought more information about the cause of and circumstances surrounding Suchir’s tragic death,” the filing states. “This petition, they hope, is the beginning of the end of that obstruction.”

Ramarao claims that the medical examiner’s office has refused to respond to inquiries. 

“Anyone who contacts the medical examiner’s office, no response from them because they are the ones who are blocking it, they have been bought,” she said.

She further asserted that authorities may be suppressing information that could suggest foul play. 

“The medical examiner will not say anything that will prove that it may have been a homicide and not a suicide,” she said. “We have to pressure them; they will lose compliance if they mess up. We need to look in that direction, pursue aggressively, and get an untampered report from them.”

Filed on Jan. 31, the lawsuit aims to pressure law enforcement to release Balaji’s police and toxicology reports. 

“The medical examiner should release the report on Feb. 27, under the stipulated 90-day period,” Ramarao said. “What is also critical is the crime scene photos and body cam video from the police who visited my son’s apartment after his death. They’re holding on to those, and we don’t have any means of getting them. We suspect that they are not releasing these details because that could prove that it was a case of homicide.”

The lawsuit claims the San Francisco Police Department is withholding records unlawfully. 

“SFPD has represented to the petitioner’s counsel that the investigation into Suchir’s death is closed because its investigators have concluded that he died by suicide. And yet, Respondent refused to produce records in response to Petitioner’s CPRA request based on a claim that the investigation is still open,” the petition states.

Balaji’s parents have expressed frustration with the police’s lack of cooperation. 

“They are not cooperative at all,” Ramarao said. “They didn’t even give any reason for denying us that information. Even our attorney found it very strange. It was then we decided to file a lawsuit. We don’t have any other option; the whole thing looks like a cover-up.”

Balaji, a child prodigy with an early interest in coding, published a scientific paper on computer chip design at age 14. He later worked for Quora and won a $100,000 competition sponsored by the Transportation Security Administration. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2021 with a computer science degree and a 4.0 GPA before joining OpenAI.

By August 2024, Balaji had resigned from OpenAI, citing ethical concerns. On Oct. 23, the New York Times published an article featuring Balaji, in which he alleged that OpenAI violated copyright laws. Less than a month later, on Nov. 18, the newspaper’s attorneys identified him in a court filing as a potential witness in their lawsuit against OpenAI. A week later, he was found dead from an apparent gunshot wound to the forehead.

Ramarao has raised questions about the circumstances of her son’s death. 

“Why would a kid who bought dinner commit suicide moments later?” she said. “Inside the room, there was food spilled on the floor. He had done his laundry and had purchased groceries and supplies for daily necessities. When somebody does all of those things in the evening, how can they say that he committed suicide?”

Ramarao said that when she entered her son’s apartment, it appeared to have been ransacked. 

“We have got the autopsy and gathered the data,” she said. “The report will be produced once we get a coroner’s report. We have the information that we need. But we need to include toxicology there. We have not performed a toxicology test. Once we get that, then we’ll once again get a full autopsy done. They’re blocking us from every piece of information.”

She insists that authorities are involved in a cover-up.

“We have kept our son’s apartment to enable proper investigation,” she said. “We need to get a thorough report and all the pieces of evidence out. Investigators want to come there to get DNA samples. We feel our attorney was also preventing us from gathering evidence.”

Ramarao declined to name specific individuals or organizations but suggested powerful entities may be involved. 

“We don’t have enough evidence to name the people and entities now, but it is clear who will benefit from the cover-up,” she said. “But we have a game plan. Things will take time, but we will get justice, there’s no doubt about it.”

She also alleged that OpenAI had knowledge of her son’s potential testimony.

“My son was a custodian witness, which means New York Times attorneys evaluated the documents my son had, and they presented them to the court during discovery. That also means OpenAI has access to the documents, and the company knew my son was going to testify,” she said.

Ramarao said her family intends to pursue legal action. 

“We have sufficient information to file a lawsuit in civil court,” she said. “But we’re waiting to gather more evidence, make it more robust, and then file. Our goal is not a civil lawsuit, our goal is a criminal suit. To prove a criminal case, we need to have more robust evidence. That’s what we are gathering now, we’re not here to make quick money. There’s no compromise, we cannot back off on justice. We want the FBI to investigate the case.”