The parents of a young California tech whistleblower, who was determined to have committed suicide in his 2024 death, are currently suing the city and county of San Francisco.
Sutir Balaji, 26, was an employee of Openai, the artificial intelligence company behind ChatGpt, at the time of his death on November 26, 2024. A San Francisco County medical inspector concluded the next day that he had died from a gunshot wound that was injured inside his apartment.
“More than two months after my son passed away, the petitioner and their lawyers were hampered every turn as they sought more information about the causes and circumstances surrounding Sutir's tragic death. We hope that the petition will be the beginning of the end of that obstruction,” the lawsuit states.
Jen Kwart, a spokesman for the San Francisco Lawyer's Office, told Fox News Digital that they would consider the complaints and respond accordingly once their offices are provided.
“Mr. Balaji's death is a tragedy and our hearts come to his family,” Kwart said.
“It's been a real nightmare for them over the past three months,” Kevin Rooney, one of the family's lawyers, told Fox News Digital.
A few days before he passed away, Balaji was “bright and happy” while traveling with a friend with a friend for his 26th birthday, the complaint filed on January 31 states. .
The lawsuit describes Balaji as “a child genius of particular interest and coding talent.” He attended the University of California, Berkeley and was employed after graduating as an AI researcher at Openai.
“In that position, he is in Openai's efforts to collect and organize data from the Internet, which is used to train GPT-4, used by the company's current ubiquitous online chatbot ChatGPT. It was essential,” the complaint stated.
However, by August 2024, Balaji “has been disillusioned with Openai's business practices and decided to leave to pursue his own projects.” In October, he said, “Former Open AI Researcher was the company It was featured in an article in the New York Times entitled “They say they broke copyright laws.”
Balaji said, “Because Openai violates US copyright law, ChatGpt will turn trains of copyrighted products from business competitors into trains, mimicking and replacing those products, and Openai's competitors. “We can take the risk of reducing the commercial viability of the company to zero.”
In a statement on January 16th, Openai described Balaji as a “valuable member” of the company's team, with the employee “still grieving after his death.”
Balaji's parents, Polnima Ramarao and Bajami Ramamouchy, allege that requests for further information regarding the death of their son were unfairly denied under California's public records laws. They further alleged in the lawsuit that investigators were not seriously concerned about Balaji's whistleblower status.
Rooney said there is a good reason why investigators do not release certain information about criminal cases to the public.
“But you should at least communicate with them and let them know in the general public what's going on to investigate the case,” Rooney said. “And they concluded that Sunitir died of suicide and the investigation is closed, so if that's not done here, we have the rights under the law. [to view police records].
“When Ramarao informed the representative that his son was a whistleblower in the Open and that he had been featured in the New York Times regarding his whistleblower allegations, the representative asked for additional information or to follow up with additional information. “We refused to do so,” the lawsuit alleged.
“instead, [medical examiner’s office] The representative handed over Mr. Ramarao Ossiel's apartment key and told her that he could get his son back on the next day. The representative also told Mr Ramarao that she should not be allowed to see such a body, and that his face was destroyed when the bullet passed through his eyes. ”
Dr. Joseph Cohen, a forensic pathologist hired by Balaji's parents, performed a private autopsy and noted that Balaji's bullet wounds were “atypical and suicide is rare.” According to the complaints, the 26-year-old also suffered contempt in the back of his head.
Cohen also noted that “the bullet's trajectory is pointed downwards at a slight left-right angle” and that the bullet completely missed the brain before it was able to stay overnight.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Openai for comment.
If you are suffering from the thought of suicide, or have experienced a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-Well for free confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside of the five districts, you can dial the National Suicide Prevention Hotline 24/7 at 988; siadypreventionlifeline.org.
