‘Doesn’t seem like a suicide’: Elon Musk backs Suchir Balaji’s mother who alleges ‘cold-blooded murder’

Elon Musk has supported Poornima Rao's claims of “cold-blooded murder” in the death of her son, Suchir Balaji, who was found dead in San Francisco.

Poornima Rao has called for an FBI investigation, arguing that evidence from a private autopsy suggests that the death, initially ruled a suicide, may have been the result of foul play.

“Update on @suchirbalaji, 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. 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. Lobbying in SF city doesn’t stop us from getting justices. We demand FBi investigation,” said Poornima Rao in a post on X.

Also Read: Indian-origin OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji’s final social media post goes viral after death

Police said that Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old former OpenAI employee of Indian origin, tragically died by suicide in his San Francisco apartment on November 26, Thanksgiving Day. Authorities are investigating the incident, which occurred in the Buchanan Street area.

“This doesn’t seem like a suicide,” replied Elon Musk.

As reported by PTI, the medical examiner's office confirmed that the cause of death of Suchir Balaji was suicide. Authorities stated there was no evidence of foul play. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner notified Balaji's next of kin and provided no further details for publication at the time.

Balaji’s death comes three months after he publicly accused OpenAI of violating US copyright law while developing ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence programme that has become a moneymaking sensation used by hundreds of millions of people across the world, the report said.

Also Read: OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji, Indian-American, found dead in San Francisco apartment. Who was he?

Its public release in late 2022 spurred a torrent of lawsuits against OpenAI from authors, computer programmers and journalists, who said the company illegally stole their copyrighted material to train its programme and elevate its value past USD 150 billion.

In an interview with the New York Times published on October 23, Balaji argued that OpenAI harmed businesses and entrepreneurs whose data were used to train ChatGPT.