New Delhi:
The mother of OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji, who was found dead in his San Francisco apartment in November last year, has shared a picture from the day of his death. The picture, taken from a CCTV footage, shows Mr Balaji waiting for an elevator with a brown paper bag in his hand – which is supposedly his dinner, Mr Balaji’s mother claimed.
The footage was from the liaison office of the San Francisco apartment building where Mr Balaji lived.
Mr Balaji had turned a whistleblower against OpenAI shortly before his death. He had publicly raised ethical concerns about the AI giant’s practices. An initial investigation had concluded that Mr Balaji’s death was an act of suicide. However, since then, his family called for an FBI investigation and highlighted several lapses, alleging that their son was murdered. A re-opened investigation and a 13-page report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) last month yet again concluded that Mr Balaji died by suicide.
Rejecting the report, Mr Balaji’s mother said they saw the CCTV footage and still concluded he was “depressed”.
“Another cover by OCME: they stated to our attorney that GHB is endogenous 3 days after death. But we found out that level of endogenous GHB is less than 5000ng/L. A line in autopsy report says that toxicology report will include GHB only if it is more than 50000 Nguyen’s/L. Combined with alcohol this is a sedative. With this combination he will be losing muscle control or possibly unconscious. We are waiting for toxicologist to give a written report,” she added.
Suchir’s picture on the day of his death at 7.30 pm , getting dinner. This is from CCTV footage.
OCME saw this video and still concluded he was depressed and called it suicide.
Another cover by OCME: they stated to our attorney that GHB is endogenous 3 days after death. But… pic.twitter.com/HwmZWhnt88
— Poornima Rao (@RaoPoornima) March 12, 2025
According to Mr Balaji’s mother, her son’s death is a “murder conspiracy executed over a long-term planning” – a claim that she has repeated over the months. She also said that the CCTVs in Mr Balaji’s garage, one of the elevators, and neighbouring areas had stopped working.
One more suspensions finding CCTV in garage of Suchir’s apartment and neighbors stopped working. One of the elevator CCTV also stopped working. This m*rder conspiracy is executed over long term planning and watching Suchir.
— Poornima Rao (@RaoPoornima) March 12, 2025
Earlier this year, Ms Rao alleged that OpenAI killed her son to “hide something they want nobody to know”, adding that Mr Balaji had documents against the ChatGPT maker and knew what they were up to.
“My son had documents against OpenAI. They attacked him and killed him. Some documents were even missing after his death…My son celebrated his birthday a day before he died. What more do we need to give on account that he was in a happy mood?” she said in an interview with American commentator Tucker Carlson.
She also accused OpenAI of hushing up the investigation and any possible witnesses.