{"id":136524,"date":"2025-09-12T01:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T01:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/136524\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T01:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T01:14:08","slug":"elon-musk-jumps-into-controversy-over-openai-whistleblower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/136524\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk Jumps Into Controversy Over OpenAI Whistleblower"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tucker Carlson published a new interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Wednesday<\/a> in which the two men discussed some pretty dark topics. Altman also talked about his beef with Elon Musk, and it wasn\u2019t long before the Tesla CEO chimed in on X with his own thoughts, definitively claiming that a whistleblower at OpenAI \u201cwas murdered,\u201d in a tweet Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During the episode, Carlson and Altman talk about Suchir Balaji, a researcher at OpenAI who died on Nov. 26, 2024. Balaji had accused OpenAI of violating U.S. copyright law a few weeks prior to his death. And while it was ruled a suicide<\/a>, his mother said he was murdered.<\/p>\n

He was murdered https:\/\/t.co\/KDaomi5AlJ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 11, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Carlson had Balaji\u2019s mother, Poornima Ramarao, on his podcast back in January<\/a> and insisted that the 26-year-old whistleblower was murdered during his conversation with Altman.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you\u2019ve had complaints from one programmer who said you guys were basically stealing people\u2019s stuff and not paying them. And then he wound up murdered. What was that?\u201d Carlson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, a great tragedy, he committed suicide,\u201d Altman said.<\/p>\n

Carlson pressed Altman, asking if he really thought Balaji killed himself. Altman replied, \u201cI really do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was like a friend of mine, this was like a guy that\u2014not a close friend, but this was someone that worked at OpenAI for a very long time,\u201d Altman continued. \u201cI spent\u2026 I mean, I was really shaken by this tragedy. I spent a lot of time trying to read everything I could, as I\u2019m sure you and others did, too, about what happened. It looks like a suicide to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy does it look like a suicide?\u201d Carlson asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a gun he had purchased. It was the\u2014this is like gruesome to talk about, but I read the whole medical record. Does it not look like one to you?\u201d Altman said.<\/p>\n

Carlson said he definitely thinks it was murder, saying there were signs of a struggle, \u201csurveillance wires had been cut,\u201d among other evidence he believes proves there was foul play. Carlson also told Altman that Balaji\u2019s mother \u201cbelieves he was murdered on your orders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Altman asked Carlson if he believed that, and Carlson tried to avoid answering before saying, \u201cI believe that it\u2019s worth looking into.\u201d Carlson insisted, \u201cI\u2019m not accusing you at all,\u201d after Altman started to say something about being accused and was cut off.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou understand how this sounds like an accusation\u2026\u201d Altman says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course. And I, I mean, I certainly\u2026 let me just be clear once again, not accusing you of any wrongdoing, but I think it\u2019s worth finding out what happened,\u201d Carlson replied. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t understand why the city of San Francisco has refused to investigate it beyond just calling it a suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Altman said that \u201chis memory and his family deserve to be treated with a level of respect and grief that I don\u2019t quite feel here.\u201d Carlson shot back that he was asking at the behest of his family.<\/p>\n

Carlson pivoted to talking about Elon Musk and his attacks on Altman, asking what the \u201ccore\u201d of their dispute might be about. Altman talked about how he\u2019s grateful to Musk for helping him start OpenAI. The two men were co-founders before Musk was pushed out of the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are things about him that are incredible, and I\u2019m grateful for a lot of things he\u2019s done. There\u2019s a lot of things about him that I think are traits I don\u2019t admire,\u201d Altman said.<\/p>\n

As Altman puts it, Musk has tried to \u201cslow us down\u201d ever since he got pushed out, filing lawsuits and claiming that OpenAI is betraying its original mission.<\/p>\n

When they weren\u2019t talking about Musk, suicide, and murder, things still got very heavy. Carlson spent much of the interview either intentionally hyping the scariness of AI or being genuinely fearful of what it\u2019s capable of.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t seem quite like a machine. It seems like it has the spark of life to it,\u201d Carlson asked, claiming that it has some kind of \u201cautonomy or spirit within it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlson repeatedly asked Altman about his religious beliefs. Altman said that he\u2019s Jewish, which wasn\u2019t enough for Carlson, who kept probing about whether he believed in God.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked because it seems like the technology that you\u2019re creating or shepherding into existence will have more power than people\u2026 on this current trajectory,\u201d Carlson said.<\/p>\n

The former Fox News host badgered Altman about where he gets his \u201cmoral framework\u201d if not from a higher power.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, like everybody else, I think the environment I was brought up in probably is the biggest thing. Like my family, my community, my school, my religion, probably that,\u201d Altman said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s actually a bit baffling that Altman agreed to do this interview, given the way that Carlson discusses AI and tech leaders on his show. Carlson often talks about them as godless freaks who are trying to build their own god in the machine. And Altman seemed at times blindsided by the questions about topics like suicide, where Carlson clearly tried to portray Altman as cold and out of touch with the morality of everyday people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beauty of a religion is it admits it\u2019s a religion, and it tells you what it stands for,\u201d Carlson told Altman. \u201cThe unsettling part of this technology\u2014not just your company, but others\u2014is that I don\u2019t know what it stands for, but it does stand for something. And unless it admits that and tells us what it stands for, then it guides us in a kind of stealthy way toward a conclusion we may not even know we\u2019re reaching.\u201d<\/p>\n