Nvidia AI Researcher’s Family Demands Answers After His Death

Months after a Bay Area AI researcher’s death, his family and friends gathered outside Palo Alto City Hall this week to demand answers. 

On July 22, Palo Alto police responded to a report of a possible suicide by an adult male, who was then transported to a hospital, according to a statement from the department. 

Irfan Al-Hussaini, a 32-year old senior data scientist at Nvidia, died eight days later, his family said in a press release. 

They’re now pushing for a deeper investigation. 

According to the family’s release, Palo Alto police told them it will not open an active investigation unless directed by the county medical examiner, which has ruled Al-Hussaini’s death a suicide.

“We have assembled here, all of us, to get the attention of the Palo Alto Police Department,” said Irfan’s father Tahmeed Al-Hussaini, who described his son as “a simple, compassionate and adorable person.” 

“He loved sports, games, traveling and nature. He had a soft heart,” Al-Hussaini said. 

Al-Hussaini’s father, who flew in from Bangladesh with his wife as soon as they heard their son was in the hospital, has stayed in the country looking for answers. 

“I already changed my ticket twice, and I’m still waiting here for clarity,” Al-Hussaini’s father said. 

The family reached out to attorney Anthony Brass, a former prosecutor specializing in domestic violence and homicide, and asked whether he thought the authorities should investigate the death, Brass told KQED on Thursday. 

Brass said that the absence of a suicide note, the “evidence of domestic violence in which [Al-Hussaini] was a victim,” and the timeline of events on July 22 were all red flags. 

It’s “very strange to be that engaged in your professional life and to make sure you have permission for the day off the next day as a precursor to suicide while not bothering to write a suicide note,” Brass said. “It just simply makes no sense.”

In a statement, an attorney representing Fabia Farlin Athena, Al-Hussaini’s widow, told KQED she wants to cooperate fully with the investigation, and that she demanded a full autopsy, which the medical examiner performed on Aug. 31.

“Irfan is ‘everything’ to Athena. She misses him every second of the day,” attorney Matthew Davis wrote.

The Palo Alto Police Department told KQED that neither officials nor the examiner have identified any evidence the death was a result of foul play.

The medical examiner has not completed their report, and the case remains open online. 

“At this time the case is still under investigation pending the report from the medical examiner,” Nicolas Martinez, a spokesperson for the police department, said in an email. “We have received materials from the family and others, and our review and investigation is on-going.” 

KQED’s Alina Ta and Sukey Lewis contributed to this report.