Family of OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji files lawsuit seeking San Francisco police records

SAN FRANCISCO — The parents of OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji filed a lawsuit Friday claiming San Francisco officials have wrongly denied them access to reports detailing the police investigation of his late November death.

Balaji’s mother and father accuse the San Francisco Police Department of “illegally withholding public records” that might shed light on the nature of Balaji’s death, according to the lawsuit filed in county court. It comes as the family has increasingly questioned the circumstances of Balaji’s death, despite San Francisco’s medical examiner and police department maintaining that he died by suicide.

In their lawsuit, the parents asked a judge to force officials to hand over police reports detailing the discovery of Balaji’s body, which was found Nov. 26 in his Lower Haight apartment. Their attorneys, Joseph Goethals and Kevin Rooney, took issue with the police department’s claim that the documents cannot be released amid an ongoing investigation, suggesting that police have acted otherwise.

“In the two-plus months since their son’s passing, 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 lawsuit said. “This petition, they hope, is the beginning of the end of that obstruction.”

Balaji garnered national attention in October when he told the New York Times that his former employer of four years, OpenAI, repeatedly flouted federal copyright laws by siphoning data from across the internet to train its blockbuster chatbot, ChatGPT. He posted a detailed analysis of his concerns on a personal website and claimed the company’s data collection practices are “not a sustainable model for the internet ecosystem as a whole.”

“If you believe what I believe, you have to just leave the company,” he told the New York Times.

Balaji’s allegations against OpenAI came on the heels of lawsuits filed by artists and several newspapers — including The Mercury News and The New York Times — accusing OpenAI and a business partner, Microsoft, of stealing their content in violation of U.S. “fair use” laws, which govern how people can use previously published work.

On Nov. 18, the New York Times named Balaji as someone who had “unique and relevant documents” that would support the outlet’s case against OpenAI. He was among at least 12 people — many of them past or present OpenAI employees — to be named by the newspaper in court filings as having material helpful to their case.

Balaji last spoke to his father, Balaji Ramamurthy, on Nov. 22, the day after his 26th birthday. The former OpenAI employee was found dead in his Buchanan Street apartment four days later, after his mother, Poornima Ramarao, insisted that San Francisco police check on him.

Balaji’s suicide has become a subject of international conjecture, fueled by rampant speculation about foul play. Billionaire Elon Musk and former Fox News provocateur Tucker Carlson have opined on his death, while Silicon Valley Congressman Ro Khanna in mid-January called for “a full and transparent investigation.”

Academics who study culture and media ethics have since raised concerns about the online discourse surrounding Balaji’s death. Nolan Higdon, a lecturer at California State University, East Bay, recently told this newspaper that social media posts on the subject have resembled “a fascinating baseless conspiracy, particularly because it attracts people from across the political spectrum.”

The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office made a preliminary ruling shortly after Balaji’s death that he died of suicide, though a final autopsy report has yet to be completed amid ongoing toxicology tests. San Francisco police have repeatedly said they have found no signs of foul play, and turned the case over to the medical examiner’s office.

The lawsuit by Balaji’s parents Friday offered clues about the results of a separate autopsy, which they commissioned in December. That examination found Balaji died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, which had a trajectory that was “atypical and uncommon in suicides,” according to the lawsuit. However, the lawsuit provided no details of that autopsy’s final findings on the manner of Balaji’s death.

The family has repeatedly declined to provide a copy of the independent autopsy’s findings to this news outlet, with Balaji’s mother saying Friday that “it’s not a complete report.” That autopsy was performed by Dr. Joseph Cohen, a Novato-based forensic pathologist who previously held the job of chief forensic fathologist for Riverside County from 1999 through 2010, according to his LinkedIn page.

If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline offers free, round-the-clock support, information and resources for help. Call or text the lifeline at 988, or see the 988lifeline.org website, where chat is available.

Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.