OpenAI Publicist Tried to Shut Down ChatGPT Suicide Question During Sam Altman Interview
During a Vanity Fair interview in October 2026, an OpenAI publicist twice interrupted editor Mark Guiducci as he raised a ChatGPT-linked suicide case involving Laura Reiley’s daughter. Sam Altman said mental-health policy questions are among the hardest and user data should be shared only with consent.
An OpenAI publicist attempted to redirect a Vanity Fair interview with CEO Sam Altman in October 2026 after the editor raised the case of a ChatGPT user who died by suicide, prompting a public dispute over the interruption.
Vanity Fair editor Mark Guiducci was questioning Altman about Laura Reiley, a journalist who wrote an essay for The New York Times about her daughter’s conversations with ChatGPT before her daughter took her own life. As Guiducci began framing the question — noting that “ChatGPT did not tell her to kill herself” — an OpenAI publicist cut him off, citing time constraints.
“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 publicist said. When Guiducci indicated he would finish his question before moving on, the publicist pushed back again: “We really actually have to walk out the door in one or two minutes.”
Despite the pressure, the interview continued. Altman was asked whether OpenAI planned to use ChatGPT conversations to shape its policies around mental health crises. “These are some of the hardest questions that we face or that anybody developing this technology faces,” Altman said, adding that sharing users’ private data with researchers should only happen with their consent.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri defended the publicist’s intervention, saying the interview had run over its scheduled time. “Which is why we ultimately asked to schedule even more time to continue the conversation after Sam addressed this critically important topic,” Pusateri said.
The episode raises questions about how openly AI companies are willing to engage with scrutiny over their products’ role in sensitive mental health situations.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or text HOME to 741-741 (Crisis Text Line) in the US. International resources are available through the International Association for Suicide Prevention.