He would never hurt himself: Elon Musk responds to Suchil Balaji’s parents, says they won’t give up
A year and a half after Suchil Balaji died under mysterious circumstances in San Francisco, his parents say they will not give up their fight to prove it was not a suicide. In a new interview with ABC7, his parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are conducting a private investigation through a former FBI officer and have strong support for their son’s case.OpenAI researcher-turned-whistleblower Suchir Balaji was found dead at his home in November 2024. The medical examiner ruled the death a suicide, but his parents never believed it and held OpenAI and Sam Altman responsible. A month before his death, Balaji gave an interview to the New York Times, saying OpenAI violated the law. He said OpenAI violated U.S. copyright laws when developing ChatGPT. He died three months after he was charged and a month after his interview with The New York Times.Balaji’s parents attended the recent trial of Elon Musk and OpenAI. They said they wanted to support Elon Musk and also wanted everyone to know about Suchil Balaji’s case.“It’s important to understand what exactly happened,” Elon Musk wrote in response to a new interview with Balaji’s parents. Musk has always supported parents’ accusations of “inappropriate behavior.” Podcaster Katie Miller, wife of White House adviser Stephen Miller, supports the parents in their search for the truth. Purnima Rao, Balaji’s mother, said the FBI did not provide much help and Sam Altman was not even questioned. They (the parents) had to know the details of the investigation, such as blood stain analysis, crime scene pictures, to know the truth. “He just celebrated his 26th birthday the day before. He cut the cake and went home happily.” His mother said, insisting that he would never hurt himself and that he was brave. “Sometimes I would hold his clothes,” the mother saidBalaji’s parents said they have now turned to the Suchil Balaji Foundation for full-time advocacy and plan to establish a scholarship. They have been contacted by whistleblower groups and now plan to spend some time in Washington, D.C.“There have to be some protections. Let’s say someone reports a company, there should be some protections,” Ramallau said. “If someone is a witness in court … someone has to protect them.”
