Suchir Balaji's death was ruled a suicide by the San Francisco medical examiner, but his parents, Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy, believe he was killed and are calling for further investigation.
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Balaji, who was an engineer helping train the artificial intelligence and data collection systems behind ChatGPT, was listed in court filings as a key witness in a lawsuit that accuses OpenAI of practices that broke the law.
Balaji had previously stated in his interview with the New York Times, a month before he died, that AI chatbots are destroying the commercial viability of the internet.
His death comes three months after publicly accusing OpenAI of violating U.S. copyright law while developing ChatGPT, and almost exactly a month after he went public with his allegations in an interview with the New York Times.
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"Proving that it was a homicide, first and foremost," says Ramarao. "Our son is very courageous. He would not harm himself. Second thing is bringing to light whoever did this, take them to justice."
The couple recently brought attention to their son's case during the high-profile legal battle between Elon Musk and OpenAI in Oakland.
On attending the trial, Ramarao added, "We wanted to support Mr. Musk. And the second reason is we wanted to raise awareness about my son's case."
Musk had previously amplified the family's demands for an independent or FBI investigation, frequently posting on X in support of Balaji's mother and had also publicly disputed the San Francisco police's official ruling of suicide.
The family has undertaken their own investigation, hiring a former FBI agent as their private investigator and commissioning an independent autopsy.
They have identified details they find suspicious, including items found in his room and questions surrounding the initial autopsy report.
They say they felt the original investigation was incomplete.
"They did not announce it's a gunshot wound. They just said suicide to be safe," Ramamurthy said. "The report that was released was so deliberate. This investigation was not total and complete."
Ramamurthy said they have felt tremendous support and that they feel a shift around their son's case.
They say new findings, including ballistics-related details, have continued to emerge as recently as this month.
Their immediate goal is to move the official ruling out of suicide and into a neutral or undetermined category.
His mother recalled the day before his death, describing him as happy and celebrating.
"He just celebrated his 26th birthday the previous day, cutting his cake, happily coming home," she said.
A lasting legacy, Bilaji's parents have launched a foundation in his name and plan to create scholarships, saying they want his work and values to endure.
They've also broadened their efforts into policy and advocacy work tied to whistleblower protections and artificial intelligence governance.
They say in addition to support from online communities, they have connected with whistleblower groups, and plan to spend time in Washington, D.C., meeting with policymakers.
"We are hoping to continue more efforts once the investigation comes to a stage in bringing changes in AI governance," Ramarao said.
"We will be staying some time in DC to reach out and make sure that his dream is fulfilled."
The family is pushing for stronger protections for whistleblowers and witnesses.
"Let there be some protection. Let's say somebody whistle blows against a company, there should be some protection," Ramarao said. "And if somebody is a court witness... somebody has to protect them."