OpenAI吹哨人在公寓身亡，其母渴望查明真相
Allie Garfinkle，Leo Schwartz
2025-02-15
普尔尼玛·拉玛拉奥最后一次与儿子通话，是在11月21日他26岁生日当天。这位名叫苏奇尔·巴拉吉的软件工程师当时正与几位好友在洛杉矶近海的卡特琳娜岛徒步旅行。通话很简短，拉玛拉奥想让儿子继续享受与朋友的聚会。她在接受《财富》杂志采访时表示：“我祝福了他，但我的祝福没能保护他。”
次日返程后，巴拉吉与父亲又进行了一次简短的通话——他的父亲对《财富》杂志表示，当时儿子的声音一如往常，完全没有预料到不久之后会发生的事情。连续多日失联让拉玛拉奥忧心忡忡。11月25日，她前往儿子位于旧金山海斯谷社区的住所，叩门无人应答。次日仍无音讯，她决定向警方报告人口失踪。警察进入公寓后，用担架抬出来的却是头部中弹身亡的巴拉吉。
尽管旧金山法医最初认定死者系自杀，但重重疑云始终笼罩在悲痛的双亲心头，更引发公众广泛质疑。巴拉吉不只是一名软件开发者，他还曾是OpenAI的研究员。数月前更以“吹哨人”身份向《纽约时报》揭露该公司涉嫌非法侵犯版权的行为。离世前夕，他正准备作为关键证人为该报起诉这家AI巨头的标志性案件出庭作证。
自儿子离世后，拉玛拉奥与丈夫巴拉吉·拉玛穆尔蒂一直在追寻真相。今年1月，拉玛拉奥登上《塔克·卡尔森秀》（The Tucker Carlson Show）节目，公开质疑当局对她儿子案件的处置。1月31日，夫妇二人正式起诉旧金山警局，要求公开有关儿子死因的完整调查报告。
巴拉吉之死不仅成为公众警惕OpenAI扩张的象征，更滋生出诸多阴谋论调。网络热议持续发酵，埃隆·马斯克和当选官员等相继发声，甚至有匿名者发行了一款网红币，声称要募集资金支持其父母的诉讼。
在喧嚣的舆论场背后，是一位天才程序员和研究员陨落的悲剧。亲友们向《财富》杂志回忆，巴拉吉是一位坚守道义的天才。如今他的父母仍在等待一个答案。
拉玛拉奥坚定地表示：“我们要让全世界都看到真相。哪怕是美国总统特朗普，也会收到我们的诉求。”
巴拉吉（左）年少时与父母的合影。成年后，他热爱徒步旅行。图片来源：Courtesy of Poornima-Ramarao and Balaji-Ramamurthy
苏奇尔·巴拉吉是谁？
在去年8月离职前，巴拉吉作为OpenAI顶尖研究团队的一员已工作四年，曾参与开发旗舰产品GPT-4大语言模型——该技术正是现象级商业应用ChatGPT的基石。这段经历让他确信，OpenAI复制网络内容的行为已逾越法律边界。
巴拉吉一毕业就加入OpenAI，但对于他的父母而言，这个了不起的成就实属意料之中。拉玛拉奥早知这个自幼展露天赋的孩子注定不凡：巴拉吉两岁便对编程产生兴趣。母亲回忆道：“他会带我们去巴诺书店（Barnes and Noble），告诉我们Java编程图书区在哪里。”
在硅谷核心区库比蒂诺（苹果公司总部所在地）长大的巴拉吉，11岁时已能独立编程。这项技能成了他捉弄伙伴的“利器”：一位友人至今记得初中时，巴拉吉曾编写代码删除同学《上古卷轴5》（Skyrim）（这款风靡全球的游戏常让玩家投入数百小时）的存档。
在加州大学伯克利分校（UC Berkeley）就读前，巴拉吉选择休学一年，在问答网站Quora担任软件工程师。巴拉吉的一名前同事（为保护隐私要求匿名）对《财富》杂志表示，其他高中毕业就入职的新人举步维艰，“他却游刃有余”。他们回忆起巴拉吉在牌桌上擅长看透别人。这位同事表示：“他总是能赢钱。”
即便在天才云集的伯克利，巴拉吉依然耀眼夺目。一位计算机科学课的同窗回忆，某次以难度著称的期中考试，巴拉吉几乎毫无准备就考出极高的分数。这位同窗对《财富》杂志表示：“夸张的是，他的分数比平均分高出四个标准差。”由于各种阴谋论，与巴拉吉的其他大多数亲友一样，这位朋友为保护隐私要求匿名。他感叹道：“我当时心想：‘这究竟是何方神圣？’论智商，我与他根本不在同一维度。”
巴拉吉还入选了伯克利Accel学者计划（Accel Scholars Program）——由硅谷顶级风投Accel创立的精英导师项目，面向年轻的软件工程师，旨在培养科技新星。项目创始人、Accel合伙人阿米特·库马尔评价道：“他才华横溢，思维缜密，兼具自信和勇气。在天才遍地的校园里，其思维敏锐度令人惊叹。无论投身何领域，他都注定成就非凡。”
人工智能前沿技术深深吸引着巴拉吉。2019年大学期间，他在快速崛起的初创公司Scale AI实习。据当时一起共事的好友透露，该公司曾极力争取其毕业后回归。但最终，巴拉吉选择了他曾实习过的OpenAI。该公司联合创始人约翰·舒尔曼直接将他招入麾下，成为其大学毕业后的第一份全职工作。
毕业后在OpenAI工作的四年间，巴拉吉负责为日益庞大的神经网络收集训练数据。但据他后来向《纽约时报》透露，自己始终视此工作为科研项目，而不是为OpenAI后来爆火的ChatGPT奠定基础。三位友人告诉《财富》杂志，巴拉吉对公司的发展方向逐渐放弃幻想，开始用网络梗图隐晦表达不满。其中一人透露，他对OpenAI实现通用人工智能（AGI）的路径持有异议。通用人工智能是AI行业的终极目标。这位好友记得，巴拉吉曾抱怨这家从非营利实验室转型的商业公司过于专注软件销售，却削减科研投入。巴拉吉曾对好友们戏称AGI实为“调整后总收入”的缩写。但他们表示他从未公开质疑过公司的版权策略。
OpenAI联合创始人兼首席执行官萨姆·奥尔特曼领导该公司从一家非营利研究实验室，变成了市值1,570亿美元的AI巨头。图片来源：Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
当巴拉吉选择离开OpenAI时，多年老友中有人诧异，也有人觉得早有端倪。2024年8月，在舒尔曼高调离职的同一个月，巴拉吉也离开了该公司。但据《财富》采访的多位亲友透露，从OpenAI离职后的最初几个月，巴拉吉的生活平静如常——他为至少一家AI初创公司担任顾问，骑着雅马哈（Yamaha）摩托穿梭旧金山街头，思考人生下一站。
就连至亲都未曾察觉他正酝酿着惊天之举。没人想到他会以“吹哨人”身份，公开指控老东家的严重违法行为。
吹哨者
拉玛拉奥从未想过，她的儿子会举报OpenAI的违规行为，特别是以这种公开的方式。她察觉到儿子离职时对OpenAI心存芥蒂。但《纽约时报》的文章令她难以置信。
拉玛拉奥说道：“他只是说：‘这不道德，我感觉这是错误的。我必须发声。’”
在一系列深度访谈中，巴拉吉向《纽约时报》科技记者凯德·梅茨详述，他认为OpenAI可能对社会弊大于利。凭借对模型训练机制的透彻理解，他指控该公司违反了版权法。2024年10月，梅茨的调查报告与巴拉吉个人网站上的文章同步发表，直指OpenAI违反合理使用原则。
这位程序员并非首位公开抨击老东家的OpenAI前员工。此前已有九人向《纽约时报》爆料，揭露创始人奥尔特曼去年戏剧性的离职又闪电复职所引发的动荡，加剧了公司安全文化崩坏和决策鲁莽等问题。
但与那批爆料者不同，巴拉吉并未披露未公开的内部信息，这也让部分人士质疑其"吹哨人"身份。一位知识产权律师向《财富》杂志表示，巴拉吉的分析"存在根本性的法律误读"。由于巴拉吉身亡所引发的各种阴谋论，这名律师要求匿名。另一名知识产权律师布拉德利·赫尔伯特对《财富》杂志表示，巴拉吉的文章“像极了一个聪明的外行人，查阅过相关课题的信息但缺乏深入理解得出的自学成果”。
即便如此，巴拉吉的挺身而出仍如惊雷炸响，重挫了OpenAI貌似不可阻挡的势头。这位明星年轻工程师以业内人士身份向公众解密了这项技术的实际运行原理，并警告它可能带来的风险。《纽约时报》更将巴拉吉列为起诉OpenAI侵权案的证人。《纽约时报》指控OpenAI未经授权使用其数百万篇文章训练AI模型。赫尔伯特分析称，巴拉吉的证词本可增加对陪审团的“说服力”。
尽管巴拉吉一直对改变自己命运的决定保密，但在知情者看来这绝非偶然。昔日在Quora的旧同事虽多年未联系，但在看到媒体报道后回忆道：“我总觉得他很聪明。他向来是非分明”。
好友们透露，巴拉吉没有告诉父母就对《纽约时报》爆料看似冲动，实则经过他一贯缜密的考量。
一位曾与巴拉吉共事的密友表示：“看起来他在做一些冲动的决定，但事实并非如此——不知情的人，或者他没有与之专门谈论过这些决定的人，确实可能觉得他冲动。他做任何决定都条理清晰，思维缜密。”
巴拉吉有十个高中时代结下的挚友。他们有一个活跃的聊天群，在里面分享梗图，而且自疫情以来，他们每年进行两次徒步旅行，从未间断。有一位好友参加了巴拉吉去世前的最后一次卡特琳娜岛之行。这位好友回忆称，他们会一起调侃巴拉吉公开爆料的决定。
他们都是《沙丘》（Dune）的铁杆书迷，曾将他的行动比喻成书中的一场著名战役，戏称他会像小说里那样，发动对计算机的圣战，最终消灭AI。这位好友（为保护隐私要求匿名）表示：“我们每次都以调侃的语气谈论他的决定。”
即便如此，拉马拉奥清楚，儿子的公开爆料会带来后果。但母亲拉玛拉奥有着更深的忧虑。她凝视着《纽约时报》上儿子隐在阴影中的坚毅面庞，陷入回忆，甚至心里依旧在这样想。拉玛拉奥说道：“母亲的直觉告诉我，厄运将至。他总是安抚我说：‘妈妈，这只是我的观点。我没做错任何事。’”
到底发生了什么？
《纽约时报》报道刊发月余，巴拉吉的生命戛然而止。到11月26日他的遗体被警方发现，无人知晓巴拉吉在公寓中躺了多久。从得知噩耗那刻起，拉玛拉奥就质疑调查的公正性。
在1月31日提交的对警方的诉状中，她的律师团队详述了案情的蹊跷之处。起诉书称，在遗体发现仅40分钟后，当地首席法医官办公室（Office of the Chief Medical Examiner，OCME）的代表即告知家属巴拉吉系自杀。起诉书指控没有警察或验尸官向拉玛拉奥询问她儿子的任何信息，即便她告知了警方死者OpenAI“吹哨人”的身份。这位代表拒绝她见死者最后一面，因为一枚子弹贯穿了死者的眼睛，导致其“面部损毁严重”。枪支登记在巴拉吉名下，购于2024年1月。
巴拉吉的公寓所在的旧金山海斯谷社区，被认为是当地AI产业的热门地带。图片来源：SAMANTHA LAUREY/AFP via Getty Images
旧金山警察局的发言人对《财富》杂志表示“初步调查未发现他杀痕迹”，但案件仍未结案。首席法医官办公室则拒绝置评。
疑窦丛生的拉玛拉奥于12月中旬聘请独立法医、法医病理学家约瑟夫·科恩博士进行二次尸检。诉状披露，科恩认定弹道轨迹显示子弹贯穿前额中部，这在自杀案中“极不寻常”，并发现巴拉吉后脑部存在挫伤。
科恩博士本人未回应置评请求。
12月中旬，在收到科恩的报告后，拉玛拉奥通过律师致信警察局、首席法医官办公室和旧金山市行政官办公室（San Francisco Office of the City Administrator），要求对巴拉吉身亡案启动刑事调查，称本案“令人焦虑”。但今年1月份的诉状显示，他们从未收到正式回复，警局仅“非正式地”告知拉玛拉奥的律师探员曾短暂重新启动调查，调阅了大楼的监控录像，随即再度结案。（警方对《财富》杂志坚称案件"从未结案"）。拉玛拉奥的律师曾尝试查看警方的事故报告未果。
据知情人士（因讨论非公开信息对其进行匿名处理）透露，旧金山市检方将很快发布一封公开信，详述支持自杀结论的具体事实。首席法医官办公室和警方的报告预计将同期公布。
与此同时，拉玛拉奥日益确信儿子死于谋杀。她表示律师给她推荐了另外一名法医、前牙买加国家安全部首席法医病理学家迪内什·拉奥博士。拉奥博士在印度接受了《财富》杂志的采访。他表示他没有前往巴拉吉公寓的现场。但他依旧可以分析拉玛拉奥发送的公寓照片。
拉奥博士出具了一份28页的初步调查报告，《财富》杂志查阅了这份报告。他在报告中提出了一系列问题：现场是否有自杀遗书？警方是否提取了现场指纹？根据有限的照片证据，他还提到多处异常之处，包括不属于巴拉吉的毛发，以及不符合自杀特征的喷溅状血迹等。
拉玛拉奥和律师正在努力争取警方发布完整报告。在此之前，拉玛拉奥利用有限的证据发起了舆论战。12月29日，她在X平台发帖指控巴拉吉的身亡是“冷血的谋杀，却被当局宣告为自杀”，呼吁FBI介入。这条推文获近300万浏览，埃隆·马斯克留言“确实不像自杀”。（埃隆·马斯克曾是OpenAI的联合创始人，2018年离开该公司，目前有一家同行公司与其竞争。他与OpenAI的萨姆·奥尔特曼因为公司的非营利机构身份而素有龃龉，俩人经常在社交媒体上发起骂战。）
1月登上《塔克·卡尔森秀》时，各种阴谋论开始四处传播。拉玛拉奥对卡尔森表示：“他相信目前没有任何监管的AI，对人类有害。他为了一项事业勇敢站了出来，并为此付出了自己的生命。他是殉道者。”
这段采访引发更大波澜，加州民主党众议员罗·卡纳在节目播出当日即发声支持FBI介入调查——很可能因为卡尔森在直播期间向其发送的一条短信。卡纳在提供给《财富》杂志的声明中表示：“我最近与普尔尼玛·拉玛拉奥女士进行过交流。我对苏奇尔·巴拉吉的家人和他母亲的遭遇感到心碎。她提供的资料促使我必须发声，这个家庭理应获得答案。”卡纳的发言人拒绝透露是否掌握调查新进展， FBI发言人则重申“不证实也不否认存在调查”的既定立场。
在悲剧发生后不久，拉玛拉奥曾向媒体表示不会“指控OpenAI”。在那之后，她一直在努力探寻这起悲剧背后的真相，网上出现各种阴谋论，利用家属的悲伤和不明案情迅速传播。在拉玛拉奥追寻答案的过程中，各种毫无根据的猜测却甚嚣尘上。
在被请求置评时，OpenAI的发言人转发了公司1月16日在X平台上发布的一份声明，称已联系旧金山警方表示愿意提供必要协助，并强调“苏奇尔曾是团队的宝贵成员，我们仍为他的离世感到悲痛"。
《纽约时报》的发言人拒绝置评。
未来发展
虽然拉玛拉奥得出了极端结论，巴拉吉的朋友们却依旧心存疑虑。巴拉吉去世前的最后几天曾与四个高中好友一起在卡特琳娜岛徒步旅行，这是他们最喜欢的一条三天徒步路线。《财富》杂志采访的其中两名好友称，他们没有发现巴拉吉有任何异常。他们像往常一样不谈论工作。当提到OpenAI时，他们依旧用《沙丘》里的故事进行调侃。
至少一位朋友认为，巴拉吉年初买枪算不上异常。这位好友称，他们的另外两位高中好友也持有枪支，只是为了娱乐和自卫，而且他们知道巴拉吉也有一把枪支。但他们心头依旧萦绕着无数的问题。
一位好友对《财富》杂志表示：“要走出来，你需要对整件事有个合理的理解。然而，相关报道频频见诸报端，让人难以释怀。”
与拉玛拉奥不同，巴拉吉的两位好友表示他们对案情不发表意见，但依旧希望本案能够有更全面的调查。一位好友对《财富》杂志表示，他们甚至没有收到警方调查额外信息的任何电话。
他们依旧表示，巴拉吉似乎对未来充满了期待。他们还计划一起前往阿拉斯加徒步旅行。他在去世前正在参与一个新项目，项目重点可能是通用人工智能。这个项目可能是一家初创公司或者非营利组织。他的朋友们不知道具体信息，他们可能从来都不了解他的真实情况。
一位好友对《财富》杂志表示：“你永远无法真正弄清楚这种事。他可能有抑郁症状，也可能没有。我认为，从我认识他以来到他离世，苏奇尔从未表现出任何异常。”
在警方公布最终报告之前（预计在2月底），真相仍难以水落石出。这并没有阻止网上对巴拉吉死因的猜测，拉玛拉奥追寻答案的决心更是起到了推波助澜的作用，波音公司（Boeing）的举报者去年3月被发现自杀身亡时，也出现了类似的现象。
经常与举报者合作的律师达伦·法尔斯通对《财富》杂志表示，举报者常常会经历孤独和质疑。这是他建议委托人保持匿名并且通过政府热线电话等官方渠道进行举报的部分原因。他表示：“举报者会承受巨大的压力和孤立感。如果你被孤立，感觉全世界都在与你作对，即使内心最强大的人也会受到挑战。”
拉玛拉奥最后一次见到儿子是在他去世前几周的11月7日。他们谈论了他的职业规划，并一起在父母居住的加州尤宁城徒步旅行。拉玛拉奥对《财富》杂志表示：“他的肢体语言依旧历历在目。他对自己所做的事情深深地感到自豪。他毫无恐惧。真希望他有一些恐惧。这样他今天或许还活着。”（财富中文网）
译者：刘进龙
审校：汪皓
普尔尼玛·拉玛拉奥最后一次与儿子通话，是在11月21日他26岁生日当天。这位名叫苏奇尔·巴拉吉的软件工程师当时正与几位好友在洛杉矶近海的卡特琳娜岛徒步旅行。通话很简短，拉玛拉奥想让儿子继续享受与朋友的聚会。她在接受《财富》杂志采访时表示：“我祝福了他，但我的祝福没能保护他。”
次日返程后，巴拉吉与父亲又进行了一次简短的通话——他的父亲对《财富》杂志表示，当时儿子的声音一如往常，完全没有预料到不久之后会发生的事情。连续多日失联让拉玛拉奥忧心忡忡。11月25日，她前往儿子位于旧金山海斯谷社区的住所，叩门无人应答。次日仍无音讯，她决定向警方报告人口失踪。警察进入公寓后，用担架抬出来的却是头部中弹身亡的巴拉吉。
尽管旧金山法医最初认定死者系自杀，但重重疑云始终笼罩在悲痛的双亲心头，更引发公众广泛质疑。巴拉吉不只是一名软件开发者，他还曾是OpenAI的研究员。数月前更以“吹哨人”身份向《纽约时报》揭露该公司涉嫌非法侵犯版权的行为。离世前夕，他正准备作为关键证人为该报起诉这家AI巨头的标志性案件出庭作证。
自儿子离世后，拉玛拉奥与丈夫巴拉吉·拉玛穆尔蒂一直在追寻真相。今年1月，拉玛拉奥登上《塔克·卡尔森秀》（The Tucker Carlson Show）节目，公开质疑当局对她儿子案件的处置。1月31日，夫妇二人正式起诉旧金山警局，要求公开有关儿子死因的完整调查报告。
巴拉吉之死不仅成为公众警惕OpenAI扩张的象征，更滋生出诸多阴谋论调。网络热议持续发酵，埃隆·马斯克和当选官员等相继发声，甚至有匿名者发行了一款网红币，声称要募集资金支持其父母的诉讼。
在喧嚣的舆论场背后，是一位天才程序员和研究员陨落的悲剧。亲友们向《财富》杂志回忆，巴拉吉是一位坚守道义的天才。如今他的父母仍在等待一个答案。
拉玛拉奥坚定地表示：“我们要让全世界都看到真相。哪怕是美国总统特朗普，也会收到我们的诉求。”
苏奇尔·巴拉吉是谁？
在去年8月离职前，巴拉吉作为OpenAI顶尖研究团队的一员已工作四年，曾参与开发旗舰产品GPT-4大语言模型——该技术正是现象级商业应用ChatGPT的基石。这段经历让他确信，OpenAI复制网络内容的行为已逾越法律边界。
巴拉吉一毕业就加入OpenAI，但对于他的父母而言，这个了不起的成就实属意料之中。拉玛拉奥早知这个自幼展露天赋的孩子注定不凡：巴拉吉两岁便对编程产生兴趣。母亲回忆道：“他会带我们去巴诺书店（Barnes and Noble），告诉我们Java编程图书区在哪里。”
在硅谷核心区库比蒂诺（苹果公司总部所在地）长大的巴拉吉，11岁时已能独立编程。这项技能成了他捉弄伙伴的“利器”：一位友人至今记得初中时，巴拉吉曾编写代码删除同学《上古卷轴5》（Skyrim）（这款风靡全球的游戏常让玩家投入数百小时）的存档。
在加州大学伯克利分校（UC Berkeley）就读前，巴拉吉选择休学一年，在问答网站Quora担任软件工程师。巴拉吉的一名前同事（为保护隐私要求匿名）对《财富》杂志表示，其他高中毕业就入职的新人举步维艰，“他却游刃有余”。他们回忆起巴拉吉在牌桌上擅长看透别人。这位同事表示：“他总是能赢钱。”
即便在天才云集的伯克利，巴拉吉依然耀眼夺目。一位计算机科学课的同窗回忆，某次以难度著称的期中考试，巴拉吉几乎毫无准备就考出极高的分数。这位同窗对《财富》杂志表示：“夸张的是，他的分数比平均分高出四个标准差。”由于各种阴谋论，与巴拉吉的其他大多数亲友一样，这位朋友为保护隐私要求匿名。他感叹道：“我当时心想：‘这究竟是何方神圣？’论智商，我与他根本不在同一维度。”
巴拉吉还入选了伯克利Accel学者计划（Accel Scholars Program）——由硅谷顶级风投Accel创立的精英导师项目，面向年轻的软件工程师，旨在培养科技新星。项目创始人、Accel合伙人阿米特·库马尔评价道：“他才华横溢，思维缜密，兼具自信和勇气。在天才遍地的校园里，其思维敏锐度令人惊叹。无论投身何领域，他都注定成就非凡。”
人工智能前沿技术深深吸引着巴拉吉。2019年大学期间，他在快速崛起的初创公司Scale AI实习。据当时一起共事的好友透露，该公司曾极力争取其毕业后回归。但最终，巴拉吉选择了他曾实习过的OpenAI。该公司联合创始人约翰·舒尔曼直接将他招入麾下，成为其大学毕业后的第一份全职工作。
毕业后在OpenAI工作的四年间，巴拉吉负责为日益庞大的神经网络收集训练数据。但据他后来向《纽约时报》透露，自己始终视此工作为科研项目，而不是为OpenAI后来爆火的ChatGPT奠定基础。三位友人告诉《财富》杂志，巴拉吉对公司的发展方向逐渐放弃幻想，开始用网络梗图隐晦表达不满。其中一人透露，他对OpenAI实现通用人工智能（AGI）的路径持有异议。通用人工智能是AI行业的终极目标。这位好友记得，巴拉吉曾抱怨这家从非营利实验室转型的商业公司过于专注软件销售，却削减科研投入。巴拉吉曾对好友们戏称AGI实为“调整后总收入”的缩写。但他们表示他从未公开质疑过公司的版权策略。
当巴拉吉选择离开OpenAI时，多年老友中有人诧异，也有人觉得早有端倪。2024年8月，在舒尔曼高调离职的同一个月，巴拉吉也离开了该公司。但据《财富》采访的多位亲友透露，从OpenAI离职后的最初几个月，巴拉吉的生活平静如常——他为至少一家AI初创公司担任顾问，骑着雅马哈（Yamaha）摩托穿梭旧金山街头，思考人生下一站。
就连至亲都未曾察觉他正酝酿着惊天之举。没人想到他会以“吹哨人”身份，公开指控老东家的严重违法行为。
吹哨者
拉玛拉奥从未想过，她的儿子会举报OpenAI的违规行为，特别是以这种公开的方式。她察觉到儿子离职时对OpenAI心存芥蒂。但《纽约时报》的文章令她难以置信。
拉玛拉奥说道：“他只是说：‘这不道德，我感觉这是错误的。我必须发声。’‘”
在一系列深度访谈中，巴拉吉向《纽约时报》科技记者凯德·梅茨详述，他认为OpenAI可能对社会弊大于利。凭借对模型训练机制的透彻理解，他指控该公司违反了版权法。2024年10月，梅茨的调查报告与巴拉吉个人网站上的文章同步发表，直指OpenAI违反合理使用原则。
这位程序员并非首位公开抨击老东家的OpenAI前员工。此前已有九人向《纽约时报》爆料，揭露创始人奥尔特曼去年戏剧性的离职又闪电复职所引发的动荡，加剧了公司安全文化崩坏和决策鲁莽等问题。
但与那批爆料者不同，巴拉吉并未披露未公开的内部信息，这也让部分人士质疑其"吹哨人"身份。一位知识产权律师向《财富》杂志表示，巴拉吉的分析"存在根本性的法律误读"。由于巴拉吉身亡所引发的各种阴谋论，这名律师要求匿名。另一名知识产权律师布拉德利·赫尔伯特对《财富》杂志表示，巴拉吉的文章“像极了一个聪明的外行人，查阅过相关课题的信息但缺乏深入理解得出的自学成果”。
即便如此，巴拉吉的挺身而出仍如惊雷炸响，重挫了OpenAI貌似不可阻挡的势头。这位明星年轻工程师以业内人士身份向公众解密了这项技术的实际运行原理，并警告它可能带来的风险。《纽约时报》更将巴拉吉列为起诉OpenAI侵权案的证人。《纽约时报》指控OpenAI未经授权使用其数百万篇文章训练AI模型。赫尔伯特分析称，巴拉吉的证词本可增加对陪审团的“说服力”。
尽管巴拉吉一直对改变自己命运的决定保密，但在知情者看来这绝非偶然。昔日在Quora的旧同事虽多年未联系，但在看到媒体报道后回忆道：“我总觉得他很聪明。他向来是非分明”。
好友们透露，巴拉吉没有告诉父母就对《纽约时报》爆料看似冲动，实则经过他一贯缜密的考量。
一位曾与巴拉吉共事的密友表示：“看起来他在做一些冲动的决定，但事实并非如此——不知情的人，或者他没有与之专门谈论过这些决定的人，确实可能觉得他冲动。他做任何决定都条理清晰，思维缜密。”
巴拉吉有十个高中时代结下的挚友。他们有一个活跃的聊天群，在里面分享梗图，而且自疫情以来，他们每年进行两次徒步旅行，从未间断。有一位好友参加了巴拉吉去世前的最后一次卡特琳娜岛之行。这位好友回忆称，他们会一起调侃巴拉吉公开爆料的决定。
他们都是《沙丘》（Dune）的铁杆书迷，曾将他的行动比喻成书中的一场著名战役，戏称他会像小说里那样，发动对计算机的圣战，最终消灭AI。这位好友（为保护隐私要求匿名）表示：“我们每次都以调侃的语气谈论他的决定。”
即便如此，拉马拉奥清楚，儿子的公开爆料会带来后果。但母亲拉玛拉奥有着更深的忧虑。她凝视着《纽约时报》上儿子隐在阴影中的坚毅面庞，陷入回忆，甚至心里依旧在这样想。拉玛拉奥说道：“母亲的直觉告诉我，厄运将至。他总是安抚我说：‘妈妈，这只是我的观点。我没做错任何事。’‘’”
到底发生了什么？
《纽约时报》报道刊发月余，巴拉吉的生命戛然而止。到11月26日他的遗体被警方发现，无人知晓巴拉吉在公寓中躺了多久。从得知噩耗那刻起，拉玛拉奥就质疑调查的公正性。
在1月31日提交的对警方的诉状中，她的律师团队详述了案情的蹊跷之处。起诉书称，在遗体发现仅40分钟后，当地首席法医官办公室（Office of the Chief Medical Examiner，OCME）的代表即告知家属巴拉吉系自杀。起诉书指控没有警察或验尸官向拉玛拉奥询问她儿子的任何信息，即便她告知了警方死者OpenAI“吹哨人”的身份。这位代表拒绝她见死者最后一面，因为一枚子弹贯穿了死者的眼睛，导致其“面部损毁严重”。枪支登记在巴拉吉名下，购于2024年1月。
旧金山警察局的发言人对《财富》杂志表示“初步调查未发现他杀痕迹”，但案件仍未结案。首席法医官办公室则拒绝置评。
疑窦丛生的拉玛拉奥于12月中旬聘请独立法医、法医病理学家约瑟夫·科恩博士进行二次尸检。诉状披露，科恩认定弹道轨迹显示子弹贯穿前额中部，这在自杀案中“极不寻常”，并发现巴拉吉后脑部存在挫伤。
科恩博士本人未回应置评请求。
12月中旬，在收到科恩的报告后，拉玛拉奥通过律师致信警察局、首席法医官办公室和旧金山市行政官办公室（San Francisco Office of the City Administrator），要求对巴拉吉身亡案启动刑事调查，称本案“令人焦虑”。但今年1月份的诉状显示，他们从未收到正式回复，警局仅“非正式地”告知拉玛拉奥的律师探员曾短暂重新启动调查，调阅了大楼的监控录像，随即再度结案。（警方对《财富》杂志坚称案件"从未结案"）。拉玛拉奥的律师曾尝试查看警方的事故报告未果。
据知情人士（因讨论非公开信息对其进行匿名处理）透露，旧金山市检方将很快发布一封公开信，详述支持自杀结论的具体事实。首席法医官办公室和警方的报告预计将同期公布。
与此同时，拉玛拉奥日益确信儿子死于谋杀。她表示律师给她推荐了另外一名法医、前牙买加国家安全部首席法医病理学家迪内什·拉奥博士。拉奥博士在印度接受了《财富》杂志的采访。他表示他没有前往巴拉吉公寓的现场。但他依旧可以分析拉玛拉奥发送的公寓照片。
拉奥博士出具了一份28页的初步调查报告，《财富》杂志查阅了这份报告。他在报告中提出了一系列问题：现场是否有自杀遗书？警方是否提取了现场指纹？根据有限的照片证据，他还提到多处异常之处，包括不属于巴拉吉的毛发，以及不符合自杀特征的喷溅状血迹等。
拉玛拉奥和律师正在努力争取警方发布完整报告。在此之前，拉玛拉奥利用有限的证据发起了舆论战。12月29日，她在X平台发帖指控巴拉吉的身亡是“冷血的谋杀，却被当局宣告为自杀”，呼吁FBI介入。这条推文获近300万浏览，埃隆·马斯克留言“确实不像自杀”。（埃隆·马斯克曾是OpenAI的联合创始人，2018年离开该公司，目前有一家同行公司与其竞争。他与OpenAI的萨姆·奥尔特曼因为公司的非营利机构身份而素有龃龉，俩人经常在社交媒体上发起骂战。）
1月登上《塔克·卡尔森秀》时，各种阴谋论开始四处传播。拉玛拉奥对卡尔森表示：“他相信目前没有任何监管的AI，对人类有害。他为了一项事业勇敢站了出来，并为此付出了自己的生命。他是殉道者。”
这段采访引发更大波澜，加州民主党众议员罗·卡纳在节目播出当日即发声支持FBI介入调查——很可能因为卡尔森在直播期间向其发送的一条短信。卡纳在提供给《财富》杂志的声明中表示：“我最近与普尔尼玛·拉玛拉奥女士进行过交流。我对苏奇尔·巴拉吉的家人和他母亲的遭遇感到心碎。她提供的资料促使我必须发声，这个家庭理应获得答案。”卡纳的发言人拒绝透露是否掌握调查新进展， FBI发言人则重申“不证实也不否认存在调查”的既定立场。
在悲剧发生后不久，拉玛拉奥曾向媒体表示不会“指控OpenAI”。在那之后，她一直在努力探寻这起悲剧背后的真相，网上出现各种阴谋论，利用家属的悲伤和不明案情迅速传播。在拉玛拉奥追寻答案的过程中，各种毫无根据的猜测却甚嚣尘上。
在被请求置评时，OpenAI的发言人转发了公司1月16日在X平台上发布的一份声明，称已联系旧金山警方表示愿意提供必要协助，并强调“苏奇尔曾是团队的宝贵成员，我们仍为他的离世感到悲痛"。
《纽约时报》的发言人拒绝置评。
未来发展
虽然拉玛拉奥得出了极端结论，巴拉吉的朋友们却依旧心存疑虑。巴拉吉去世前的最后几天曾与四个高中好友一起在卡特琳娜岛徒步旅行，这是他们最喜欢的一条三天徒步路线。《财富》杂志采访的其中两名好友称，他们没有发现巴拉吉有任何异常。他们像往常一样不谈论工作。当提到OpenAI时，他们依旧用《沙丘》里的故事进行调侃。
至少一位朋友认为，巴拉吉年初买枪算不上异常。这位好友称，他们的另外两位高中好友也持有枪支，只是为了娱乐和自卫，而且他们知道巴拉吉也有一把枪支。但他们心头依旧萦绕着无数的问题。
一位好友对《财富》杂志表示：“要走出来，你需要对整件事有个合理的理解。然而，相关报道频频见诸报端，让人难以释怀。”
与拉玛拉奥不同，巴拉吉的两位好友表示他们对案情不发表意见，但依旧希望本案能够有更全面的调查。一位好友对《财富》杂志表示，他们甚至没有收到警方调查额外信息的任何电话。
他们依旧表示，巴拉吉似乎对未来充满了期待。他们还计划一起前往阿拉斯加徒步旅行。他在去世前正在参与一个新项目，项目重点可能是通用人工智能。这个项目可能是一家初创公司或者非营利组织。他的朋友们不知道具体信息，他们可能从来都不了解他的真实情况。
一位好友对《财富》杂志表示：“你永远无法真正弄清楚这种事。他可能有抑郁症状，也可能没有。我认为，从我认识他以来到他离世，苏奇尔从未表现出任何异常。”
在警方公布最终报告之前（预计在2月底），真相仍难以水落石出。这并没有阻止网上对巴拉吉死因的猜测，拉玛拉奥追寻答案的决心更是起到了推波助澜的作用，波音公司（Boeing）的举报者去年3月被发现自杀身亡时，也出现了类似的现象。
经常与举报者合作的律师达伦·法尔斯通对《财富》杂志表示，举报者常常会经历孤独和质疑。这是他建议委托人保持匿名并且通过政府热线电话等官方渠道进行举报的部分原因。他表示：“举报者会承受巨大的压力和孤立感。如果你被孤立，感觉全世界都在与你作对，即使内心最强大的人也会受到挑战。”
拉玛拉奥最后一次见到儿子是在他去世前几周的11月7日。他们谈论了他的职业规划，并一起在父母居住的加州尤宁城徒步旅行。拉玛拉奥对《财富》杂志表示：“他的肢体语言依旧历历在目。他对自己所做的事情深深地感到自豪。他毫无恐惧。真希望他有一些恐惧。这样他今天或许还活着。”（财富中文网）
译者：刘进龙
审校：汪皓
The last time Poornima Ramarao spoke to her son, a 26-year-old software engineer named Suchir Balaji, was on his birthday, Nov. 21. He was on a backpacking trip with a few friends on Catalina Island, right off the coast of Los Angeles. It was a quick call. Ramarao wanted to let him get back to celebrating with his friends. “I blessed him, but my blessing didn’t protect him,” Ramarao tells Fortune.
After Balaji returned the next day, he spoke with his parents one more time—a brief call with his father, who told Fortune his son sounded normal, despite what would soon happen. But after not hearing from Balaji for a few days, Ramarao began to worry. On Nov. 25, she went to his home by San Francisco’s Hayes Valley neighborhood and knocked on the door but didn’t get a response. She still had not heard from him the next day, and decided to go to the police department and file a missing person’s report. When the cops finally gained entrance to his apartment, they brought out Balaji’s body on a stretcher. He had died from a gunshot wound to the head.
San Francisco medical examiners initially ruled Balaji’s death a suicide, although many questions persist for his parents––and for the wider public. Because Balaji was not just a software developer, but a former researcher at OpenAI who had gone to the New York Times just a few months before to decry what he viewed as the AI’s company’s illegal copyright violations. At the time of his death, Balaji was prepared to testify as a witness at a landmark lawsuit brought by the newspaper against the artificial intelligence behemoth.
Since Balaji’s death, Ramarao and her husband, Balaji Ramamurthy, have been looking for answers. Ramarao made a January appearance on The Tucker Carlson Show to express concerns about how her son’s case has been handled by authorities. And on Jan. 31, she and Ramamurthy filed a lawsuit against the San Francisco Police Department, demanding it release its full report into their son’s death.
Balaji himself has become a symbol of fears about OpenAI’s creeping power and his death a source of rampant conspiracy theories, spurring online speculation, prodding tweets from Elon Musk and elected officials, and even a memecoin launched by an anonymous figure allegedly raising funds to support the parents’ legal effort.
But beneath the most salacious headlines is the tragic death of an exceptionally gifted programmer and researcher, described by family and friends who spoke with Fortune as a prodigy with a firm moral compass. His parents are still searching for closure.
“We will take this to the public,” Ramarao says. “We will be taking it everywhere. We will even send it to President Trump.”
Who was Suchir Balaji?
Before Balaji left OpenAI last August, he had spent four years among the company’s top researchers, having helped develop its flagship GPT-4 large language model, the underlying technology to the commercial blockbuster ChatGPT. That vantage point helped build his view that OpenAI was breaking the law by making copies of online content.
OpenAI was Balaji’s first job out of college, a prodigious leap that was, for his parents, completely expected. From the time he was little, Ramarao knew her son was exceptionally smart. At two years old, Balaji was already showing an interest in programming. “He would take us to Barnes and Noble and show us the Java book section,” Ramarao recalls.
Balaji grew up in Cupertino, Calif., the heart of Silicon Valley and home of Apple. By 11, he was programming on his own—a skill he used to playfully torment his friends. One remembers Balaji’s idea of a middle school prank: writing code that deleted a friend’s Skyrim save file. (Skyrim, a popular video game, usually sees its players pour hundreds of hours into their games.)
Before starting at UC Berkeley as an undergrad, Balaji took a gap year to work at the online forum Quora as a software engineer. While other new employees hired out of high school struggled, one coworker who spoke with Fortune says that Balaji fit right in. “He was mature beyond his years,” says the coworker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their privacy. They remember that Balaji had a knack for reading people at the poker table. “He always took our money,” the coworker says.
Even at the brainy mecca of Berkeley, Balaji stood out. One friend recalls being in a computer science class with him, and in a famously difficult midterm, Balaji got one of the highest scores without studying: “Something insane, like, four standard deviations above the mean,” says the friend, who like most of the acquaintances who spoke with Fortune did so on the condition of anonymity to protect their privacy given the conspiracy theories that have proliferated. “I thought, ‘Who is this guy?’” the friend tells Fortune. “I’m not his intellectual equal by any means.”
Balaji was also one of a select few accepted to Berkeley’s Accel Scholars Program, a mentorship program founded by elite Silicon Valley venture capital firm Accel supporting young software engineers looking to pursue careers in tech. “He was a really brilliant, thoughtful person with a lot of confidence and courage,” said Amit Kumar, the Accel partner who founded the program. “In a university full of outliers, he stood out in terms of raw intellectual horsepower…He would have been great at anything he applied himself to.”
Balaji was drawn to the frontier technology of artificial intelligence, interning at the rapidly growing startup Scale AI in 2019 while he was in college. One friend who worked with him says Scale seemed to hope he would return. Balaji became drawn to OpenAI, where he’d also interned. Its cofounder, John Schulman, directly recruited Balaji out of college for a full-time job.
Balaji would spend his first four years out of college with OpenAI, helping gather digital data to train the company’s growing neural network. Still, he would later tell the New York Times that he viewed his work as a research project, not as the foundation for OpenAI’s later smash hit, ChatGPT. Over time, three friends tell Fortune that Balaji seemed to become disillusioned slowly, sharing memes to communicate his displeasure with OpenAI’s trajectory. One friend says that Balaji disagreed with OpenAI’s approach to achieving artificial general intelligence, the north star for the AI sector. The friend remembers Balaji complaining that OpenAI, which began as a non-profit lab and has gradually evolved into a commercial enterprise, was too focused on software sales and wasn’t willing to invest enough on the research side. Balaji joked to several friends that AGI, or artificial general intelligence, stood for “adjusted gross income.” They don’t remember Balaji bringing up concerns with OpenAI’s approach to copyright.
When he quit OpenAI, some longtime friends were surprised, while others felt it had been coming. Balaji left in August 2024, the same month that Schulman also made his high-profile exit. All the friends and family that Fortune spoke to said that Balaji’s first few months out of OpenAI were surprisingly normal, as he advised at least one AI startup and rode his Yamaha motorcycle around San Francisco, contemplating what he’d do next.
No one that Fortune spoke to, including his parents, knew of his plans to become a public advocate for what he viewed as egregious legal violations by his former employer.
The whistleblower
Ramarao never expected her son to speak out against OpenAI, especially in such a public way. She had gotten the sense he wasn’t happy with OpenAI at the time he’d left. But when the New York Times article came out, it caught her off-guard.
“He just said, ‘It’s unethical, and I feel it’s wrong,’” says Ramarao. “‘We need to speak up.’”
In a series of interviews, Balaji told New York Times tech reporter Cade Metz that he believed OpenAI would cause more societal harm than good, making the case that the company was violating copyright laws based on his own intricate understanding of how its models are trained. Metz published his article in October, with Balaji posting a detailed essay on his personal website the same day laying out his case that OpenAI was breaking fair use laws.
Balaji isn’t the first former OpenAI employee to speak out against the company. A group of nine had come forward to the New York Times just a few months before, alleging a culture of recklessness and deteriorating safety protocols, accelerated by the dramatic firing, and immediate return, of cofounder and CEO Sam Altman the year before.
Unlike the other group of OpenAI employees, Balaji wasn’t divulging any previously unknown inside information about the company—a distinction that has caused some to take issue with his classification as a “whistleblower.” And one intellectual property lawyer, who spoke with Fortune on the condition of anonymity because of the conspiracy atmosphere around the death, says Balaji’s own analysis “misunderstands the law in some fundamental ways.” Another, the intellectual property attorney Bradley Hulbert, tells Fortune that Balaji’s post reads like “the argument of a really smart non-lawyer who read up on the subject but does not have a thorough understanding.”
But Balaji’s decision to come forward still served as a potent alarm against OpenAI’s seemingly unstoppable momentum—here was one of its young, phenom engineers helping explain to the public how the technology actually worked and the harms it could cause. The New York Times, which has sued OpenAI alleging unauthorized use of millions of its articles by the company to train its AI models, even named Balaji as a witness in its ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI. Balaji’s testimony, reckons Hulbert, would likely have been used “for color” to help the newspaper make its case to a jury,
Even though Balaji had been secretive about his life-changing decision, people who knew him weren’t surprised. His former coworker at Quora, who hadn’t spoken to Balaji since their time at the company years earlier, remembers following the news. “I always felt he had a good head on his shoulders,” they tell Fortune. “He knew what was right and what was wrong.”
And while it may have seemed impulsive to go to the New York Times without even telling his parents, friends say that Balaji wouldn’t have made the choice without his characteristically methodical consideration.
“He seemed like he was making all these impulsive decisions, but no––they’re impulsive to people who aren’t in the loop or to those he’s not specifically talking about these decisions to,” one close friend who’d previously worked with him said. “I saw him as someone who was very systematic and thoughtful, kind of about everything.”
Balaji had a crew of ten close friends from high school. They kept an active group chat where they shared memes, and ever since the pandemic, went on two backpacking trips a year together. One friend, who was on the final Catalina trip before Balaji’s death, remembers that they would all joke together about Balaji’s decision to go public.
They were all big fans of Dune and would compare his action to a famous war in the books—a crusade against computers that ends with the elimination of AI in the story’s universe. “Anytime we talked about it, it would be in a joking manner,” says the friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their privacy.
Even so, Ramarao knew that her son’s very public revelation would come with consequences. She remembers even thinking that as she looked at his picture, stoic and shrouded in shadows, in the New York Times. “My mother’s instinct was very strong,” says Ramarao. “I really felt something grave was going to happen to my son. And he just kept assuring me: ‘Mom, it’s just my opinion. I haven’t done anything wrong.’”
What happened?
About a month after the New York Times story came out, Balaji was dead. It’s not clear how long Balaji’s body was in the apartment before it was discovered on November 26. From the day she learned of his death, Ramarao had already begun to feel that her son’s case was not being properly investigated.
Her lawyers lay out the case in their lawsuit against the police department, filed on Jan. 31. According to the complaint, a representative from the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) informed Ramarao 40 minutes after they found his body that Balaji had died by suicide. The lawsuit alleges that no officer or examiner asked her any questions about her son, even when she informed them he had been a whistleblower against OpenAI. The representative also told her she would not be allowed to see his body, and that his face had been “destroyed” when a bullet went through his eye. The gun was registered to Balaji. He had bought it in January 2024.
A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department told Fortune that “no evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation,” but that the investigation remains open as of Feb. 7. The OCME declined comment.
Harboring doubts, Ramarao decided to hire an independent examiner named Dr. Joseph Cohen, a forensic pathologist, to conduct a private autopsy in the middle of December. According to the lawsuit, Cohen determined that the bullet’s trajectory, which went through his mid-forehead, was “atypical and uncommon” in suicides, also noting a “contusion” to the back of Balaji’s head.
Dr. Cohen did not respond to several requests for comment.
After receiving Cohen’s report in mid-December, Ramarao sent a letter through her lawyers to the police department, OCME, and the San Francisco Office of the City Administrator, asking for a criminal investigation into Balaji’s death, describing it as “troubling.” According to January’s lawsuit, they never received a formal response, but police officials “informally” informed Ramarao’s lawyers that detectives had briefly reopened the investigation to review the building’s closed-circuit recordings and then closed the investigation once again. (The police department told Fortune that the investigation has “remained open since its inception.”) Ramarao’s lawyers have tried to get access to the police incident report, without luck.
According to a person with direct knowledge, who was granted anonymity to discuss non-public information, the city’s attorney’s office is going to come out with a a letter soon with detailed facts that are consistent with a suicide. The OCME and police reports are expected in the same timeframe.
In the meantime, Ramarao has become increasingly convinced that her son was murdered. She says that her lawyers directed her to another investigator, Dr. Dinesh Rao, formerly the chief forensic pathologist in the Legal Medicine Unit at Jamaica’s Ministry of National Security. Rao, who spoke to Fortune from India, says that he has not visited Balaji’s apartment. Still, he was able to analyze photos taken from the apartment and sent to him by Ramarao.
In Rao’s 28-page initial report reviewed by Fortune, he raises a number of questions: Was there a suicide note? Did police take fingerprints at the scene? Based on the limited photographic evidence, he also pointed to anomalies, including hair that did not seem to belong to Balaji, as well as blood spatter that did not seem consistent with suicide.
Barring a more complete report from the police, which her lawyers are still demanding, Ramarao has taken her limited evidence on a public awareness campaign. On Dec. 29, she posted on X that Balaji’s death was a “cold blooded [sic] mu*d*r declared by authorities as suicide,” demanding an FBI investigation. The post received nearly three million views and a response from Elon Musk. “This doesn’t seem like a suicide,” he replied. (Elon Musk, who was a cofounder of OpenAI but who left in 2018 and now runs a competing company, has a longstanding feud with OpenAI’s Sam Altman over the company’s nonprofit status, and the two often spar on social media.)
The conspiracy flames spread when she appeared on Tucker Carlson’s online show in January, in an hour-plus-long episode. “He believed [that] AI––currently without any regulation––is a harm to humanity,” she tells Carlson. “He stood up for a cause, and he lost his life for a cause. He’s a martyr.”
The interview stirred even more outrage, with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) echoing her call for an FBI investigation the same day, likely spurred when Carlson sent Khanna a text during the episode. “My heart breaks for Suchir Balaji’s family and his mother, Poornima Ramarao, who I spoke to recently,” Khanna said in a statement shared with Fortune. “She provided me with information that inspired me to speak out. They deserve to have their questions answered.” A spokesperson for Khanna declined to share whether they had additional information about any active investigations. An FBI spokesperson said the bureau cannot confirm or deny the existence of any investigation.
Ramarao told reporters shortly after Balaji’s death that she wasn’t “pointing fingers” at OpenAI. Since then, her efforts to make sense of the inexplicable tragedy have collided with a teeming online world of conspiracy theories all too eager to latch onto grief and uncertainty. As Ramarao has pushed for answers, a rash of baseless speculation has thrived alongside the proceedings.
When asked for comment, an OpenAI spokesperson forwarded a statement the company posted on X on January 16, which said that it had reached out to the San Francisco Police Department to offer its assistance if needed. “Suchir was a valued member of the team and we are still heartbroken by his passing,” read the post.
A spokesperson for the New York Times declined to comment.
Moving forward
While Ramarao has jumped to extreme conclusions, Balaji’s friends remain uncertain. Balaji’s last days were the backpacking trip to the Catalina Islands with four other friends from his high school crew—a three-night hike on a trail that was a favorite of theirs. Two friends who spoke with Fortune say they didn’t notice anything amiss with Balaji. They didn’t really talk about work, which was normal for them. When OpenAI came up, they made the same jokes about Dune.
Balaji buying a gun earlier in the year also did not seem out of the ordinary, at least according to one friend. Two others in their high school crew also own firearms for recreation and self-defense and they knew that Balaji had one as well, says the friend. But they’re still haunted by countless questions.
“The thing about moving on is that you need to be able to make some sense of the whole situation,” one of the friends tells Fortune. “With this constantly in the news, it’s been kind of hard to find that.”
Unlike Ramarao, the two friends say they don’t have an opinion of what happened but still want to see a more thorough investigation. One tells Fortune that they never even got a call from the police asking for additional information.
Still, they say that Balaji did seem to be looking toward the future. They were planning another backpacking trip together, this time to Alaska. At the time of his death, he was working on a new project, likely focused on AGI. It may have been a startup, or a nonprofit. Friends didn’t know specific details, and it’s likely they may never have the full picture.
“My thoughts on the matter are that you can never really tell with these sorts of things,” one friend tells Fortune. “Maybe he was [depressed], maybe he wasn’t. I think from all of the times that I’ve known him, or all of the time that I’ve known him, there was nothing abnormal about Suchir, until his passing.”
Until the police release their final report, which is expected by the end of February, it will be impossible to find any closure. That has not stopped online speculation, which has fed off by Ramarao’s quest for answers, about Balaji’s death—a similar phenomenon to the Boeing whistleblower who was found dead by suicide in March.
Daren Firestone, an attorney who works regularly with whistleblowers, tells Fortune that it is common for them to experience loneliness and doubt. It’s partly why he advises his clients to stay anonymous and go through official channels such as government tip lines. “It creates enormous pressure on somebody and a feeling of isolation,” he says. “And if you’re isolated and you feel the world is against you, that can be challenging for even the most robust minds.”
The last day that Ramarao saw her son was Nov. 7, a couple of weeks before his death. They talked about his career plans and went for a hike together in Union City, Calif. where his parents live. “I still remember his body language,” Ramarao tells Fortune. “He was very proud of what he was doing. There was no fear. I wish he had some fear. He could have survived today.”
财富中文网所刊载内容之知识产权为财富媒体知识产权有限公司及/或相关权利人专属所有或持有。未经许可，禁止进行转载、摘编、复制及建立镜像等任何使用。
