New Delhi:
Poornima Rao, the mother of whistleblower and former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji, has leveled new criticism at the AI giant. Her son, who was found dead in his San Francisco apartment in November, had publicly raised ethical concerns about OpenAI's practices before his death, which authorities initially labeled a suicide. However, his family has since called for an FBI investigation for murder.
Speaking to an influencer on “He did something to refine ChatGPT that made it faster and more efficient,” she told X user Mario Nawfal. “But what bothered him was that there was no recognition for his work until his death. Even now, there is no recognition from OpenAI for his contributions. That's a great shame.”
The mother of OPENAI whistleblower: my son was not okay with OPENAI becoming a profit motive
Suchir Balaji's mother, Poornima Ramaro:
“The reason he joined OpenAI was his belief that AI will help humanity.
He was initially very impressed with OpenAI because it was a non-profit organization.
His… https://t.co/593AOb8Kgx pic.twitter.com/Z59susr97U
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 11, 2025
Mr Balaji, who worked at OpenAI for almost four years, resigned in August 2023 after expressing his dissatisfaction with the company's shift to a for-profit model. According to his mother, this shift was a key factor in his decision to leave.
Mrs. Rao and her husband, Balaji Ramamurthy, have claimed that the circumstances of their son's death are not consistent with suicide. In a series of public statements, they revealed details of a second autopsy they ordered that they said showed signs of a struggle, including head injuries. Ms Rao also claimed that Mr Balaji's apartment had been ransacked and that bloodstains in the bathroom indicated he had been beaten.
San Francisco police have reportedly reopened the case as an “active investigation” but have not shared any further details. “We demand that the FBI intervene to uncover the truth. This is a cold-blooded murder that is being covered up as suicide,” Ms. Rao said.
Mr. Balaji had been vocal about ethical and legal issues he noticed during his time at OpenAI. In an interview with DailyExpertNews shortly before his death, he claimed that the company's AI models had been trained on copyrighted material that had been scraped from the Internet without permission. In his personal blog, Balaji elaborated on his concerns, saying, “This is not a sustainable model for the internet ecosystem as a whole.”
OpenAI has consistently denied these allegations, stating that their use of data falls within the bounds of 'fair use' under US copyright law.
Elon Musk, co-founder of OpenAI and since then an outspoken critic of the organization, has added to the family's concerns. “This doesn't seem like suicide,” Musk, who left OpenAI in 2018, had shared on X.
!! https://t.co/PUBf5rUSSc
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 11, 2025
The Tesla chief also reshared the family's latest interview with Mr Nawfal.