'Looks like a suicide to me...': Sam Altman breaks silence on OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji’s death

For the first time, OpenAI founder Sam Altman has spoken publicly about the death of whistleblower Suchir Balaji, describing it as “a great tragedy.” Altman’s remarks came during a tense exchange with former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, who repeatedly rejected the police ruling of suicide and called it “a murder.”

Balaji, an Indian-origin researcher who had worked at OpenAI for four years, was found dead in his San Francisco apartment in November 2024, weeks after accusing the company of copyright violations. Police concluded the 27-year-old died by suicide, but his family has alleged lapses in the investigation and insisted he was killed.

At the start of their interview, Carlson asked Altman about Balaji’s complaints. “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 said.

Altman replied: “Also a great tragedy. He committed suicide.” When pressed again, Altman said: “I really do. He was like a friend of mine. This is like a guy that, not a close friend, but this is someone that worked at OpenAI for a very long time. I was really shaken by this tragedy… It looks like a suicide to me.”

Carlson pushed back, citing “signs of a struggle, cut surveillance wires, blood in multiple rooms” and the fact that Balaji had recently returned from a vacation and ordered takeout food. “He was definitely murdered, I think,” Carlson said, adding that Balaji’s mother believes the same.

Altman responded: “I haven’t done too many interviews where I’ve been accused of murder… You understand how this sounds like an accusation?” Despite Carlson’s repeated questioning, Altman stood by the official version: “I spent a lot of time trying to read everything I could, as I’m sure you and others did too, about what happened.”

Balaji’s mother, Poornima Ramarao, has rejected the suicide finding. “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,” she said in a separate interview with Carlson.