OpenAI Publicist Interrupts Interview After CEO Sam Altman Asked Question About Woman’s 2025 Suicide: ‘I’d Like to Move On’

“We really actually have to walk out the door in one or two minutes,” the publicist said, although Altman did go on to answer the question

NEED TO KNOW

• During a Vanity Fair interview, a publicist for OpenAI executive Sam Altman interjected after the topic of a woman’s 2025 was suicide was brought up by the interviewer
• “I want to be respectful, but I’d like to move on,” the publicist said, going on to say that they only had two minutes before they had to leave
• Altman went on to speak broadly about OpenAI and mental health, saying these are “some of the hardest questions that we face or that anybody developing this technology faces”

During a recent interview, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman answered a question relating to a 29-year-old woman’s suicide, despite an attempt from his publicist to change the subject.

Sophie Rottenberg, who died by suicide last year after her family says she used ChatGPT as a therapist, came up during Altman’s recent interview for Vanity Fair’s latest cover story, the first part of which was published online Monday, Oct. 5. 

During the interview, Altman was asked whether he had heard of Laura Reiley, Rottenberg’s mother, who wrote an Aug. 24, 2025, guest essay in The New York Times about her daughter’s death — to which Altman replied he did not. 

“She is a journalist. She wrote an essay in the Times last year. Her daughter committed suicide after speaking to ChatGPT. ChatGPT did not tell her to kill herself,” the interviewer said before being interrupted by a publicist for Altman.

“Two minutes left,” the publicist can be heard in the background saying in a clip posted on social media by Vanity Fair. “I want to be respectful, but I’d like to move on. And we talked a little bit about talking about the future and what’s coming. Can we go a little bit there while we have time? I think we’ve had…

Altman then replied to his publicist, saying, “I can run a few minutes over.”

“I know,” said the publicist. “But we really actually have to walk out the door in one or two minutes.”

After reiterating some of the specifics of Rottenberg’s story, the interviewer asked Altman if he thought information gleaned from various chat logs could be useful or if the company had plans to do anything with that data in the realm of mental health.

“I mean, first of all, these are some of the hardest questions that we face or that anybody developing this technology faces,” Altman replied. “We try to rely on expert opinion as much as we can, but experts also aren’t sure what to do.”

“And the fact that someone in a moment of need that maybe can’t get help or isn’t willing to talk to a therapist can get some help here,” he continued. “Clearly people think there’s a version of this that is good. There are also clearly versions of it that are bad.”

As for whether the company should “release people’s private data and some of their hardest moments to researchers,” Altman said that’s not something they’d do “without their consent.”

“Do we want to find ways where we can work with the community to address the mental health crisis in the world and for our products to be helpful there?” he replied. “Of course, yes.”

When reached for comment about the moment by The Verge, a company spokesperson said, “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.”

PEOPLE contacted OpenAI but did not receive an immediate reply.

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Rottenberg, a former public health policy analyst in Washington, D.C., died by suicide in February 2025, NPR previously reported. According to her family, Rottenberg confided her mental health issues to a ChatGPT therapist named Harry.  

Her mother Reiley told NPR that after her death, she came across Rottenberg’s laptop and “found this trove, this months-long trove of communication with this chat bot.” 

“Harry’s tips may have helped some,” Reiley wrote in her essay for the Times. “But one more crucial step might have helped keep Sophie alive. Should Harry have been programmed to report the danger ‘he’ was learning about to someone who could have intervened?”

“This is a heartbreaking situation and our thoughts are with those impacted,” a spokesperson for OpenAI wrote in a previous statement to NPR about Rottenberg’s death. “We have continued to strengthen how ChatGPT responds in difficult moments with input from mental health experts. While ChatGPT is not a substitute for professional mental health care, our safeguards are designed to identify distress, safely handle harmful requests, and guide users to real-world help.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.