An OpenAI publicist tried to redirect Sam Altman’s Vanity Fair interview after the CEO was asked about a person who died by suicide following conversations with ChatGPT.
Vanity Fair editor Mark Guiducci raised the sensitive issue of suicide and self-harm during a two-part interview with the OpenAI chief for the magazine’s New Establishment list.
Guiducci asked whether Altman knew journalist Laura Reiley, whose 29-year-old daughter died by suicide last year after using ChatGPT as a therapist.
Altman said he did not know Reiley, prompting Guiducci to outline the circumstances surrounding her daughter’s death.
“She is a journalist. She wrote an essay in the [New York] Times last year. Her daughter committed suicide after speaking to ChatGPT. ChatGPT did not tell her to kill herself,” Guiducci said before an OpenAI publicist intervened and attempted to end the discussion.
“Mark, we have two minutes left. I want to be respectful, but I’d like to move on and talk a little bit about the future and what’s coming,” the unnamed publicist said.
Altman, however, rejected the suggestion and said he was willing to continue with the question.
“I can run a few minutes over. Let me answer that one,” Altman replied.
An OpenAI publicist tried to steer Vanity Fair’s question to CEO Sam Altman away from a case involving a person who died by suicide after messaging ChatGPT
Vanity Fair editor Mark Guiducci asked Altman whether he knew journalist Laura Reiley, whose 29-year-old daughter died by suicide last year after using ChatGPT as a therapist
Reiley’s daughter, Sophie Rottenberg, died by suicide in February 2025 after seeking guidance from an AI therapist called Harry. She also used the service while writing a suicide note.
In the New York Times essay, Reiley wrote that the note did not sound like her daughter. Rottenberg had asked Harry to “help her find something that could minimize our pain and let her disappear with the smallest possible ripple.”
After hearing the account, Altman said: “I mean, first of all, these are some of the hardest questions that we face, or that anybody developing this technology faces.
“Should we release people’s private data from some of their hardest moments to researchers? I think probably not without their consent—or I should say, not without their consent.
“Do we want to find ways to work with the community to address the mental health crisis in the world and make our products helpful there? Of course, yes.”
The publicist’s attempt to move past the question prompted a strong online backlash, with critics arguing that the intervention reflected poorly on both Altman and OpenAI.
“What a ghoul,” one person wrote on X.
‘A rare moment when Altman’s instincts are better than his publicist’s,’ added another.
Journalist Laura Reiley’s (right) 29-year-old daughter, Sophie Rottenberg (left), took her own life last year after using ChatGPT as a therapist
Rottenberg confided in an AI therapist for five months before her suicide in February 2025 and used the service to help her write a suicide note, her family said
A third person wrote: ‘Seriously? This has to be a comedy sketch.’
‘Baffled by the PR person who didn’t trust Sam Altman to handle himself and didn’t think about how this would amplify the moment,’ wrote a fourth.
A fifth person added: ‘These people only want to talk about the “future” that their technology is ushering in and never about the implications for the people using it are.’
An OpenAI spokesperson told Our News Outlet the publicist interjected because the interview was running over its scheduled time.
‘The interview was running over, which is why we ultimately asked to schedule even more time to continue the conversation after Sam addressed this critically important topic,’ the spokesperson said in a statement.
