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San Francisco’s medical examiner has ruled the death of former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji, who was found dead in his apartment on November 26 last year, a suicide.
The new autopsy report backs previous police investigation which found “no evidence of foul play," according to San Francisco Police Department Officer Robert Rueca.
Balaji first made headlines in October 2024 after accusing OpenAI of violating U.S. laws by training its AI models on copyrighted materials, insisting its practices could have detrimental impact on the entire internet ecosystem.
“This is not a sustainable model for the internet ecosystem as a whole,” the whistleblower told The New York Times. “The only way out of all this is regulation.”
Speculation Surrounding The Death Of The Former OpenAI Researcher
Balaji’s death had become subject to much speculation after his family expressed concerns over what they deemed suspicious circumstances.
“He was in L.A. and having a good time. So he sent us all the pictures,” his father Balaji Ramamurthy told The Guardian last December. “He was in a good mood.”
His mother, Poornima Ramarao, further demanded an FBI investigation into his death, citing skepticism over the San Francisco Police Department’s ability to handle a case involving cybersecurity and whistleblower protection.
Balaji’s Contentious History With OpenAI
Balaji, who helped build ChatGPT during his four-year tenure at the Sam Altman-led non-profit, was found dead a day after he was named in a lawsuit brought against OpenAI by numerous authors alleging copyright infringement.
“While generative models rarely produce outputs that are substantially similar to any of their training inputs, the process of training a generative model involves making copies of copyrighted data,” the researcher wrote on his personal website prior to his death. “If these copies are unauthorized, this could potentially be considered copyright infringement, depending on whether or not the specific use of the model qualifies as ‘fair use’.”
OpenAI, which has disputed the claims, later expressed condolences over his death.
“We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news today and our hearts go out to Suchir’s loved ones during this difficult time,” OpenAI spokesperson Jason Deutrom told Forbes back in December.