EXCLUSIVE INVESTIGATION: Secrets of A.I. Whistleblower's Shocking Death — And How His Mom Is Convinced He Was Murdered

OpenAI overlord Sam Altman is facing shocking allegations that he played a role in the death of a whistleblowing employee, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

The tech wunderkind, 40, is the target of a relentless campaign by the grieving mother of former employee Suchir Balaji, who was mysteriously found dead inside his San Francisco apartment one month after revealing in a New York Times interview how OpenAI's use of copyrighted data allegedly violates the law.

In an exclusive interview with RadarOnline.com, Balaji's heartbroken mom, Poornima Ramararo, insisted her happy-go-lucky engineer son was marked for death by a "team of assassins" dispatched to keep him quiet because he was being eyed as a key witness in various lawsuits against the controversial artificial intelligence company.

Ramararo said her outspoken son had expressed concern for his safety because he was willing to serve as a witness in lawsuits accusing OpenAI of copyright infringement, which could cost the tech company billions.

"They planned to kill him," said the mom, who hired her own team of forensic experts and investigators to find evidence her 26-year-old son was too inebriated to shoot himself between the eyes with a handgun he purchased for protection. "Before they published news about Suchir's death, OpenAI already knew he was dead."

Balaji's decomposing body was found sprawled out near the bathroom of his fourth-floor apartment five days after his Nov. 21, 2024, birthday and three months after quitting his OpenAI gig after working there for four years.

"We have tons of evidence of foul play – tons of evidence," Ramararo told RadarOnline.com, accusing investigators of ignoring the obvious blood splatter in two rooms and the angle of the bullet that killed him, which indicated a gunman may have been standing above him.

The family is openly questioning the suicide ruling by the San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office.

"They failed to consider the toxicology showing he was under the influence of a date rape drug; they didn't document facial injuries showing he was beaten; they failed to review the building's CCTV during the investigation, and they failed to review his mental history before calling it a suicide," she said.

"He was financially stable, emotionally extremely strong, and physically happy – always going backpacking, motorcycling, going on 10-mile walks every day."

The death has been under scrutiny since X owner Elon Musk sued Altman, his former business partner, for allegedly stealing trade secrets from his own artificial intelligence company, xAI. Musk accused the whiz kid of playing a role in Balaji's death.

"All signs point to it being a murder," Musk claimed on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

The wires to his security camera were cut. Blood in two rooms, someone else's wig was in the room... and he ordered DoorDash right before allegedly committing suicide, which seems unusual.

Commissioned by RadarOnline.com, renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Ronald Graeser, who reviewed the evidence, also believes the medical examiner dismissed the massive amount of the date rape drug GHB in Balaji's system, ruling it was self-induced.

"I don't think it's a suicide – and that leaves deliberate homicide or murder," he concluded.

In a joint letter to Balaji's parents last year, then San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Chief Bill Scott and David Serrano Sewell, executive director of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), said a thorough review of the evidence – gunshot residue on both his hands and DNA on the gun – indicate suicide.

"The OCME found no evidence or information to establish a cause and manner of death for Mr. Balaji, other than a suicide by self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head... SFPD conducted an independent investigation and based on the information reviewed, there is insufficient evidence to find Mr. Balaji's death was the result of a homicide," said the statement.

During an interview with Tucker Carlson, Altman said he was "really shaken" by Balaji's death, noting: "It looks like a suicide to me."

But when Altman asked Tucker if he felt the same way, the former Fox News talking head sniffed, "No, he was definitely murdered."