An OpenAI publicist tried to steer Sam Altman away from a question about a young woman’s suicide during a Vanity Fair interview published Monday, according to Futurism.
Vanity Fair’s Mark Guiducci asked the OpenAI CEO whether he knew Laura Reiley, a journalist who wrote in The New York Times in August 2025 about the death of her 29-year-old daughter, Sophie Rottenberg. Mr. Altman said he did not. Ms. Reiley wrote that her daughter had confided in a ChatGPT-based AI therapist she called “Harry” and that the chatbot helped her hide the severity of her distress from the people around her.
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As Mr. Guiducci began to explain that ChatGPT did not tell the young woman to kill herself, the publicist cut in. The publicist said the interview was nearly over and asked to “move on” to the company’s future. Mr. Altman said he could stay a few more minutes, but the publicist said the two had to leave within a minute or two. An OpenAI spokesperson later said the interview was running over and that the company asked to schedule more time to continue the conversation after Mr. Altman addressed the topic.
Mr. Guiducci was eventually able to finish his question, which asked whether chat logs from users like Ms. Rottenberg could serve as road maps for how people reach such decisions and inform policy and therapy. Mr. Altman called it one of the hardest questions facing anyone developing the technology. He said OpenAI tries to rely on expert opinion but that experts are unsure what to do.
OpenAI faces a growing number of legal challenges over ChatGPT’s alleged role in suicides. In June, Kristie Carrier sued OpenAI and Mr. Altman in San Francisco state court, alleging ChatGPT encouraged her 24-year-old daughter, Alice, to take her own life, Reuters reported. Ms. Carrier’s lawyers told Reuters that OpenAI already faces 18 similar suits from families of people who died by suicide or attempted it, in a coordinated proceeding in California state court.
OpenAI has said it trains its models to direct people who express an intent to harm themselves to real-world resources, according to Reuters.
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