Despite San Francisco police repeatedly saying OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji’s death was a suicide, influential figures on both ends of the political spectrum are spreading questions about foul play, raised by the young man’s grieving family, around the world.
Former Fox News provocateur Tucker Carlson, on his Tuesday podcast, spoke with Balaji’s mother, Poornima Ramarao, about her son’s November death, saying he expected to be a potential witness in a lawsuit against his employer, OpenAI. The podcast bore a caption saying Balaji was “likely murdered.”
Hours later, a computer scientist from Turkey posted the allegation to his 35,000 followers on social media platform X: “Looks like OpenAI whistle blower was murdered by OpenAI.”
Then, Elon Musk on Wednesday re-posted to his 213 million followers on X the allegation through another contributor on the platform with 1 million followers who said “OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji was murdered” with a clip from the Carlson podcast. Musk also retweeted a post with a clip from that podcast showing Ramarao discussing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Speculation that the 26-year-old’s death was not by his own hand also jumped the political divide, with Silicon Valley Congressman Ro Khanna calling Wednesday for “a full and transparent investigation” after “very serious concerns about foul play” were raised by Balaji’s family.
Nolan Higdon, a Cal State University East Bay lecturer who studies online culture and propaganda, described the ongoing public chatter as “a fascinating baseless conspiracy, particularly because it attracts people from across the political spectrum.”
In a statement, OpenAI said: “Law enforcement are the right authorities in this situation, and we trust them to continue sharing updates as needed.”
Experts say many conspiracy theories gain believability because they’re fabricated around a kernel of truth. Balaji was found dead Nov. 26 in his San Francisco apartment, a month after he told The New York Times that OpenAI broke federal copyright laws to hoover data from the internet that it used to feed its artificial intelligence. In court filings, the newspaper had named him as one of a number of people whose “unique and relevant documents” would help its copyright lawsuit against OpenAI.
Balaji’s allegations came on the heels of lawsuits filed by artists and seven newspapers — including The Mercury News and The New York Times — accusing OpenAI and a business partner, Microsoft, of stealing their content in violation of U.S. “fair use” laws, which govern how people can use previously published work.
“In this case the kernel of truth is related to what he was doing the month before he died,” Santa Clara University ethics expert Subramaniam Vincent said.
The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office has issued a preliminary ruling that Balaji died by suicide, but said a final autopsy report won’t be released until toxicology tests are finished. No details have been released.
Balaji’s mother told Carlson a private autopsy the family commissioned indicates a murderer shot him. The family told this news organization they do not believe Balaji died by suicide, but declined to share the autopsy.
In the absence of final, definitive information about how Balaji died, online speculation gave shape and impetus to a conspiracy theory.
Doubts about whether Balaji took his own life began to percolate on social media even before his mother spoke out, including among those motivated by sympathy for his family, said Vincent, director of journalism and media ethics at the Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
“They want answers,” Vincent said “They feel like the non-response of the police department beyond the initial finding and the quick assessment that it was a suicide and nothing else gives them cause for concern.”
When someone considered a whistleblower dies suddenly while poised to release more information, “that’s enough for people to feel something’s up,” Vincent said. “Then come the whole army of people online.”
Online influencers — like the person Musk re-posted who cried murder and has more than a million followers — enter the dialogue, seeking to “create a cycle of speculation” and “fan the flames,” Vincent said.
For influencers and would-be influencers who can get paid for social media posts with high user engagement, and for podcasters like Carlson who sell advertising off their shows, amplifying conspiracy theories can bring financial reward, Higdon said.
“Things like murder, assassination, coverup,” Higdon said, “these are all drawing people’s attention.”
Musk has a history of making his personal and business disputes public via online attacks. An early investor in OpenAI and former board co-chair alongside Altman, Musk has filed two lawsuits — one later dropped — over the San Francisco startup’s switch from non-profit to for-profit.
“He doesn’t exactly have a love affair going on with OpenAI,” Vincent said.
Skepticism among conservatives of government institutions leads many on the right to reject official narratives, such as the finding Balaji died by suicide, Higdon said.
“It’s not surprising that some have moved from skepticism to outright claims of foul play,” Higdon said. “However, the lack of accountability for the wealthy and powerful in today’s legal system — something criticized across the ideological spectrum — feeds into this mindset.”
Khanna did not immediately respond to questions about the timing of his post and his concerns around Balaji’s death. The congressman’s post came the day after Balaji’s mother told Tucker Carlson she had not heard back from him, and Carlson, on camera, picked up his phone and said he was texting Khanna.
Balaji is not the first Bay Area technology industry insider whose death provided fodder for conspiracy theorizing by Musk and Carlson. Both seized on the 2023 killing of tech founder Bob Lee in San Francisco to further culture-war attacks on the city as a crime-ridden hellhole, with Musk tweeting “Violent crime in SF is horrific,” and Carlson, then still at Fox News, saying that in San Francisco, “this kind of thing happens to normal people all the time.”
An East Bay tech consultant and associate of Lee was found guilty last month of his murder.
If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline offers free, round-the-clock support, information and resources for help. Call or text the lifeline at 988, or see the 988lifeline.org website, where chat is available.