By Ethan Baron Bay Area News Group
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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.”

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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.