OpenAI's Sam Altman grilled over whistleblower death: 'He was like a friend'

OpenAI founder Sam Altman recently spoke about the death of Suchir Balaji, an OpenAI researcher-turned-whistleblower while facing an interrogative conservative commentator, who during an interview on Wednesday (September 10), asserted that the 26-year-old did not commit suicide, as the police said, but was murdered.

Altman referred to Balaji as “like a friend” of his and even said against the interviewer’s onslaught that he had not done many interviews where he had been accused of murder.

Former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson brought up the deceased whistleblower’s complaints against OpenAI while he was alive.

Sam Altman on God, Elon and the mysterious death of his former employee.

(0:00) Is AI Alive? Is It Lying to Us?
(3:37) Does Sam Altman Believe in God?
(6:37) What Is Morally Right and Wrong According to ChatGPT?
(19:08) ChatGPT Users Committing Suicide
(27:21) Will Altman Allow… pic.twitter.com/ZQSbSCMgCp

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) September 10, 2025

“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 asked, pointing at Balaji’s death.

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Altman responded by saying, “Also a great tragedy. He committed suicide.”

When Carlson asked Altman whether he thought Balaji committed suicide, he reiterated the same.

'Really shaken by the tragedy'

“He was like a friend of mine. This is like a guy that, not a close friend, but this is someone that worked at Open AI for a very long time. I was really shaken by this tragedy. I spent a lot of time trying to, you know, read everything I could as I'm sure you and others did too about what happened. It looks like a suicide to me.”

Carlson was at it again, asking Altman why it looked like a suicide. The latter said it was a gun that Balaji had purchased.

Also read: Parents sue OpenAI, Sam Altman, allege ChatGPT enabled son’s suicide

The interviewer said once again that the whistleblower was “definitely murdered”, backing his belief with “signs of struggle”, snapped surveillance wires, and blood in more than one room.

He said Balaji had just returned from a vacation with his friends on Catalina Island and ordered takeout food, suggesting that there was no indication that he was in the mood to commit suicide.

Carlson then went on to say that Balaji’s mother, who also spoke with the former in a separate interview, claimed that he was killed on Altman’s orders.

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When Altman asked the interviewer whether he believed the same, he said it was something “worth looking into”.

Altman tells Carlson he's being accused

“I haven’t done too many interviews where I’ve been accused of murder,” Altman said as Carlson continued to press him. Despite repeated insistence, he, however, stood by the official findings into the case.

He was murdered https://t.co/KDaomi5AlJ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 11, 2025

Balaji, who worked at OpenAI for four years, was found lifeless in his apartment in San Francisco in November 2024, weeks after accusing the company of copyright violations. The police ruled out any foul play in the incident, and the San Francisco medical examiner's office also determined the death to be a case of suicide. Balaji’s family, however, alleged major lapses in the probe and opposed the suicide claim.

Also read: OpenAI to open first India office in New Delhi this year

Elon Musk, who is known for his feuds with Altman in the tech space, also spoke in response to the latter's calling Balaji's death as a suicide. In a post on X, he said, "He was murdered."