The case of Suchir Balaji has brought together a coalition of right-wing pundits, conspiracy-minded journalists, crypto enthusiasts — and the software engineer's own family.
Published Jan. 08, 2025 • 6:00am
It didn’t take long for Suchir Balaji’s death to become a conspiracy.
San Francisco police only just announced the passing of the 26-year-old — a software engineer who had recently made damaging claims about OpenAI, his former employer — when the speculation exploded.
Something “nefarious” happened to Balaji, observers posited on X after he was found dead Nov. 26 in his Buchanan Street apartment. He was the victim of a “hit.” The circumstances were “very suspicious.” He must have been assassinated, posters said, to prevent him from further harming one of the world’s most valuable AI companies.
San Francisco authorities ruled the death a suicide, and police said they found “no evidence of foul play.” But in the absence of further information, the story has taken on a life of its own. A coalition of right-wing pundits, conspiracy-minded journalists, crypto enthusiasts, and now, Balaji’s parents, are filling the information vacuum, with some exploiting his death to generate millions off a crypto coin named in his memory.
Like all good conspiracy theories, this one begins with solid facts: A month before his death, Balaji told The New York Times that OpenAI, his employer of four years, was illegally training ChatGPT on copyrighted data. He later...
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