OpenAI whistleblower death: Indian-origin victim's mother alleges foul play over 'blood'

Poornima Rao, the mother of OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji, has alleged foul play in her son's death. Suchir, a former employee of OpenAI, was found dead in his apartment on November 26.

The medical examiner ruled Balaji's death suicide. He was 26 at the time of his death. However, the victim's mother insists that her son did not die by suicide.

'Signs of fight in bathroom'

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Speaking to India Today, Poornima said that she found her son's apartment ransacked and there were signs of struggle in the bathroom.

"There were signs of a fight in the bathroom, and when we fed the picture to ChatGPT, we found that the splatter of blood was not like what it is supposed to be as per the cause of death. We also found separate blood spots in the bathroom that indicate he may have been hit. There was also no suicide note left," she said.

After using ChatGPT, Poornima said she decided to hire a private investigator to probe her son's death. She told India Today that the private investigator concluded that Suchir's death did not seem like a case of suicide.

Doesn't seem like suicide: Elon Musk

Tech billionaire Elon Musk supported the claims made by Poornima about her son's death.In a post on X, Musk reacted to Poornima's post about her son's death, where he said, "This doesn't seem like a suicide."

This doesn’t seem like a suicide

Suchir had quit OpenAI, citing ethical concerns about contributing to a technology he believed would do more harm than good.

(With inputs from agencies)