OpenAI publicist cuts in as Vanity Fair presses Sam Altman on a ChatGPT user’s suicide

Sam Altman has given a lot of interviews. Few have included a publicist trying to steer the conversation away from a young woman’s death. That happened in a sit-down between the OpenAI CEO and Vanity Fair editor Mark Guiducci. Guiducci raised the case of a ChatGPT user who died by suicide, and an OpenAI publicist stepped in to suggest the conversation move on to another topic. What happened in the room Vanity Fair published the exclusive interview on October 5, 2026. It was recorded over two sessions, on September 11 and October 2, 2026. During the conversation, Guiducci asked Altman whether he knew who Laura Reiley is. Reiley is 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. Guiducci noted that ChatGPT did not tell Reiley’s daughter to harm herself. He kept pressing on the case anyway, and that is where OpenAI’s communications staff intervened. The publicist cited the clock, telling Guiducci time was running short and that she wanted to change subjects. “Mark, we have two minutes left. I want to be respectful, but I’d like to move on…” Altman did engage with the subject. He called suicid...