‘This doesn’t seem like suicide’: Elon Musk backs Indian-origin Suchir Balaji’s mother in row over his death

Elon Musk, in an X post, has backed Suchir Balaji’s mother Poornima Ramarao’s claims about foul play in her son’s death. The former employee of ChatGPT’s parent company, OpenAI, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment. Prior to his death, he accused the artificial intelligence company of violating copyright law.

A medical officer ruled his death as suicide and the San Francisco police said, there are “no evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation.” However, the 26-year-old Indian-origin techie’s mother has called for an FBI investigation, casting doubts on the police’s conclusion that her son’s death was a suicide.

Also Read: Indian-origin OpenAI whistleblower's mother breaks silence on Suchir Balaji's death: 'Doesn't look normal'

“We hired private investigator and did second autopsy to throw light on cause of death. Private autopsy doesn’t confirm cause of death stated by police,” reads a post shared on the profile of X user Poornima Ramarao.

“Suchir’s apartment was ransacked , sign of struggle in the bathroom and looks like some one hit him in bathroom based on blood spots. It’s a cold blooded mu*d*r declared by authorities as suicide,” the post further says.

Elon Musk reacted to the post and wrote, “This doesn’t seem like a suicide.”

“He felt AI is a harm to humanity,” in an earlier interview, Balaji’s mother recalled how her son’s optimism for AI turned into scepticism.

What OpenAI Whistleblower Suchir Balaji accused the company of:

In an interview with the New York Times in October, Suchir Bajaji accused OpenAI of using copyrighted data, claiming that it violated the law. He also told the outlet that “technologies like ChatGPT were damaging the internet.”

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The techie who worked for nearly four years as an artificial intelligence researcher at OpenAI left his job because he didn’t want to contribute to a technology he believed would harm society more than benefit. “If you believe what I believe, you have to just leave the company,” he said.