For the first time, OpenAI founder Sam Altman has publicly spoken about the death of whistleblower Suchir Balaji, a case mired in controversy. Altman’s remarks came during a tense interview with controversial former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, who insisted that Balaji’s death was not a suicide, as ruled by police, but “a murder”.
At the start of their conversation, Carlson brought up Balaji’s prior complaints about OpenAI. “You had complaints from one programmer who said you guys were basically stealing people’s stuff and not paying them, and then he wound up murdered. What was that?” Carlson asked.
To this, Altman said, “Also a great tragedy. He committed suicide”. Carlson then pressed again, asking, “Do you think he committed suicide?”
“I really do,” Altman said, adding, “He was like a friend of mine. This is like a guy that, not a close friend, but this is someone that worked at Open AI for a very long time. I was really shaken by this tragedy. I spent a lot of time trying to, you know, read everything I could as I’m sure you and others did too about what happened. It looks like a suicide to me.”
Carlson then asked, “Why does it look like suicide?” Altman replied, “It was a gun he had purchased”.
Carlson, however, asserted, “He was definitely murdered, I think”. He also pointed to “signs of a struggle,” cut surveillance wires, and blood in multiple rooms. “He had just ordered takeout food, come back from a vacation with his friends on Catalina Island. No indication at all that he was suicidal,” he said. Carlson also noted that Balaji’s mother claims her son was murdered.
“I haven’t done too many interviews where I’ve been accused of murder,” Altman replied.
Carlson continued to question how a suicide could involve “signs of a struggle and blood in two rooms”. “I don’t understand how the authorities could just kind of dismiss that as a suicide. I think it’s weird,” Carlson said, further pressing Altman.
Altman then replied sharply: “You understand how this sounds like an accusation?”
Despite Carlson’s repeated insistence, Altman stood by the official findings. “I spent a lot of time trying to read everything I could, as I’m sure you and others did too, about what happened,” he said.
Who was Suchir Balaji?
Suchir Balaji, an Indian-origin researcher who worked at OpenAI for four years, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment in November 2024, just weeks after accusing the company of copyright violations. Though police ruled the death a suicide, Balaji’s family has alleged major lapses in the investigation and rejected the suicide claim.
“Everybody is suppressed. Nobody is ready to come up and tell the truth. Even the attorneys have been made to tell that it is a suicide,” Balaji’s mother, Poornima Ramarao, said in a separate interview with Carlson.
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