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His mother took to social media and tagged Elon Musk, demanding an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Also read: Sachir Balaji was planning to take legal action against OpenAI? Whistleblower’s mother claims ‘paranormal activity’ on device
Balaji was instrumental in lawsuits against OpenAI by major media outlets, including The New York Times, and by artists and copyright owners. OpenAI has been accused of violating copyright law in training its chatbot.Balaji told the AP news agency that he would “try to testify” in copyright infringement cases. A lawyer for The New York Times named him in court documents as someone who has “unique and relevant documents” to support the case.
What did the police say on the case of Sachir Balaji?
In her post, Balaji’s mother – Purnima Rao expressed her concern and said that “the private autopsy does not confirm the cause of death as stated by the police.” He called for the intervention of US authorities, saying that an FBI investigation was necessary to solve the case. Besides Elon Musk, he tagged American biotech entrepreneur and politician Vivek Ramaswamy and California Governor Gavin Newsom. Balaji’s parents claim that Balaji’s death was a “cold-blooded murder”.
Also read: Why did Elon Musk change the name of his X to ‘Cacus Maximus’?“We read the second post-mortem, there are signs of struggle like head injury, further details from the post-mortem show that it is murder,” his mother was quoted as saying by NDTV.
Recounting his last interaction with his son, Balaji Ramamurthy said, “He was coming back from a birthday trip to Los Angeles where he went with his friends. He was happy. He told me that he Wants to go to Las Vegas for CES (a tech show) in late January, he said he’s going to dinner.
“During the initial investigation, no evidence of foul play was found,” the police said. However, the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Balaji’s death a suicide. Balaji worked at OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT.
Also read: Who was Sachir Balaji? Former OpenAI researcher who called AI legal gray areas
Parents visit the apartment.
On Wednesday, Balaji’s parents appeared in a video posted by George Webb, who claims to be an “investigative journalist”. Rao and her husband describe what they saw in Balaji’s apartment, including a pool of blood and signs of a struggle.
Rao added that there is a pen drive, which is now missing. “We lost the pen drive. He had something on the pen drive.”
Here is what Sachir Balaji’s mother wrote.
Update on @suchirbalaji.
We hired a private investigator and conducted a second autopsy to shed light on the cause of death. A private autopsy did not confirm the cause of death stated by the police. Sachier’s apartment was ransacked, with signs of a struggle in the bathroom and it looks like someone beat him in the bathroom based on blood stains.
It’s a cold-blooded mu*d*r that the authorities have called suicide. Lobbying in SF City doesn’t stop us from getting justice. We demand an FBI investigation @elonmusk @VivekGRamaswamy @GavinNewsom @MEA
The post has since gained attention, sparking a wave of backlash on social media. This also caught the attention of Musk, who replied that “it doesn’t sound like suicide”.
Sachir Balaji’s mother further pleads “@elonmusk please help us”.
In an interview with Business Insider last week, Rao revealed that Balaji has become increasingly disillusioned with the commercialization of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly OpenAI’s ChatGPT. “He felt that AI was harmful to humanity,” he said, explaining how his son, Satchir Balaji, was moved from boundless optimism about AI’s potential to profound skepticism. Reflecting on her tragic death, he added, “It doesn’t seem like a normal situation.”
Sachir was planning legal action against OpenAI?
A day after his mother called for an FBI investigation into her son’s death, his family Sachir has revealed that he was planning to take legal action. against the company before his untimely death.
According to Purnima Rama Raohe compiled evidence to back up his claims and arranged interviews with major media outlets, including the Associated Press (AP), to shed light on OpenAI’s alleged copyright violations. “He told me he was working on personal research,” Purnima said, adding that he allayed her concerns, assuring her that she had done nothing wrong.
The family also revealed that Suchir had a document outlining his allegations and legal strategy. “He was ready to go public in a big way,” his mother said. Sachir’s parents became worried after not hearing from him for several days and contacted the police, who found his body in their apartment. Purnima expressed doubts about the circumstances of his death, claiming that key details “don’t add up.”
The family also noted unusual activity on her devices after her death, including Google Chrome and Google Drive temporary files that appeared on November 29, two days after her body was found. “We are investigating who accessed his desktop,” Purnima said, stressing his determination to conduct a thorough forensic analysis of his laptop and other devices.
Purnima told her son to be upbeat and happy in the days leading up to her death. She had celebrated her birthday with friends and had enjoyed a vacation in Los Angeles and Catalina Island just a week earlier. “He was full of life,” she said. “No one so bold and self-confident would take such a step.”
