Tucker Carlson left artificial intelligence chief Sam Altman stunned after confronting him with theories that one of his programmers was murdered. 

The former Fox News anchor questioned Altman over the November 2024 death of OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji, who was found in his San Francisco apartment with a gunshot to the head. 

The 26-year-old’s death came shortly after he had gone public with criticism’s of Altman’s company and accused the AI firm of violating copyright and privacy laws in their development of ChatGPT. 

The San Francisco Medical Examiner and police department ruled that Balaji’s death was a suicide and said ‘no foul play was found’, with a report  later confirming there were no signs of forced entry, that Balaji had purchased the gun he was shot with and had recently searched online for information about the brain’s anatomy. 

Carlson cast doubt on the police’s conclusion that Balaji killed himself, claiming there were signs of a struggle inside his apartment, surveillance cameras were off, blood was found in multiple rooms and that the researcher had been out with friends that night. 

‘What was that?’ Carlson said, to which Altman responded: ‘A great tragedy.’ 

‘Do you think he committed suicide?’ Carlson asked, which Altman insisted: ‘I really do.’ 

As the interview turned awkward and Altman appeared to struggle to find a response, he then continued: ‘This was like a friend of mine. This was a guy that—and not a close friend, but this was someone that worked at OpenAI for a very long time. 

‘I was really shaken by this tragedy. I spent a lot of time trying to read everything I could, as I’m sure, you, and others did too, about what happened. It looks like a suicide to me.’ 

Tucker Carlson left artificial intelligence chief Sam Altman stunned after confronting him with theories that one of his programmers was murdered

The interview quickly grew awkward as Altman said he felt Carlson was accusing him of ordering one of his employees to be murdered, saying he ‘hasn’t done too many interviews where I’ve been accused’ of a crime 

The former Fox News anchor questioned Altman over the November 2024 death of OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji, who was found in his San Francisco apartment with a gunshot to the head 

Carlson quickly pushed back on Altman’s stance and said he believes Balaji was ‘definitely murdered’, and accused police of covering up the case and ‘dismissing it as a suicide.’ 

Altman took the line of questioning as an allegation that he had ordered the hit himself, as the two went back and forth several times over allegations swirling around the suspicious death. 

‘It was a gun he had purchased. This is like gruesome to talk about, but I read the whole like,’ Altman said, before countering: ‘Does it not look like one to you?’ 

Tucker listed through his reasons for believing Balaji was murdered, saying: ‘There were signs of a struggle, of course. 

‘The surveillance camera—the wires had been cut. He had just ordered takeout food, come back from a vacation with his friends on Catalina Island. No indication at all that he was suicidal. No note and no behavior. 

‘He had spoken to a family member on the phone. And then he’s found dead with blood in multiple rooms. So that’s impossible. It seems really obvious he was murdered.’ 

Altman said that he had not spoken to the authorities about Balaji’s death, and appeared offended as Carlson recalled that the staffer’s own mother ‘claims he was murdered on your orders.’ 

‘Do you believe that?’ he responded. 

Balaji had been a researcher for the artificial intelligence research company for four years, and was involved in the gathering of internet data to help develop ChatGPT 

The interview turned awkward as Altman appeared to struggle to find a response to Tucker’s questioning of the OpenAI researcher’s death 

Carlson said he was ‘asking’, and insisted it is ‘worth looking into.’ 

‘And I don’t—I mean, if a guy comes out and accuses your company of committing crimes—I have no idea if that’s true or not, of course—and then is found killed, and there are signs of a struggle, I don’t think it’s worth dismissing it,’ he said. 

‘I don’t think we should say, “Well, he killed himself,” when there’s no evidence that the guy was depressed at all. I think—and if he was your friend, I would think you would want to speak to his mom or her.’ 

Altman interjected to say he did offer to speak with Balaji’s mother but ‘she didn’t want to.’ 

‘I haven’t done too many interviews where I’ve been accused of…,’ he added, with the interview quickly turning awkward. 

Carlson insisted that he was ‘not accusing you at all’, but continued to claim that ‘a fair reading of the evidence’ suggests that Balaji did not kill himself. 

‘You understand how this sounds like an accusation?’ Altman shot back. 

Carlson concluded: ‘Of course, and I—I mean, I certainly—let me just be clear once again, not accusing you of any wrongdoing, but I think it’s worth finding out what happened. 

‘And I don’t understand why the city of San Francisco has refused to investigate it beyond just calling it a suicide.’