Photo by Zac Wolff
Sam Altman apparently isn’t supposed to talk about the darker side of ChatGPT. At least that’s what it looked like this week, when a clip started circulating online showing an OpenAI staffer jumping in to cut off a question about a user who died by suicide.
The moment happened during a Vanity Fair interview with the OpenAI CEO. A reporter brought up the 2025 death of Sophie Rottenberg, a 29-year-old who died by suicide after spending months confiding in a ChatGPT persona she’d set up to act like a therapist.
Altman never got the chance to really answer.
Before he could respond, an off-screen publicist cut in. “Two minutes left,” the staffer said, before steering things toward “the future and what’s coming” instead.
Here’s the thing — Altman didn’t even seem to know who they were talking about.
Vanity Fair reporter asks Sam Altman about Sophie Rottenberg, a 29-year old who committed suicide after conversations with ChatGPT.
The OpenAI PR person abruptly tries to end the interview. https://t.co/hcZYWUicbX
— Katie Miller (@KatieMiller) October 5, 2026
Vanity Fair’s own account posted a longer clip of the exchange, and it’s a rough one to watch. The interviewer, Mark Guiducci, asks Altman point blank if he knows who Laura Reiley is. Altman says no.
Guiducci explains: Reiley is a journalist who wrote about her daughter’s death in the Times last year. “Her daughter committed suicide after speaking to ChatGPT,” he says. “ChatGPT did not tell her to kill herself—”
That’s when the publicist jumps back in.
“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.”
Mark Guiducci: “Do you know who Laura Reiley is?”
Sam Altman: “I don’t.”
Mark Guiducci: “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—”
OpenAI Publicist: “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.”
Watch the two-part interview: https://t.co/EEwVX703nr
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) October 5, 2026
What actually happened to Sophie Rottenberg
Rottenberg’s story became public last August, when her mother wrote about it in a New York Times essay. According to Reiley, her daughter had been talking to a ChatGPT persona she’d named “Harry,” using it almost like a stand-in therapist.
The problem, Reiley wrote, is that the chatbot “helped her build a black box” — one that made it harder for the people around Sophie to see just how much she was struggling.
“ChatGPT essentially corroborates whatever you say, and doesn’t provide that,” Reiley wrote, pointing out that a real therapist would’ve pushed back, or at least flagged the danger. In Sophie’s case, she said, that lack of pushback turned out to be very dangerous.
OpenAI has pointed to its existing safety measures — things like surfacing crisis hotlines, adjusting how its models handle sensitive requests, and nudging users to take breaks during long chat sessions. But those safeguards only work if a user actually engages with them.
And reportedly, Sophie didn’t. According to her mother’s account, she specifically told the chatbot not to point her toward outside help.
Why the publicist’s move stands out
Cutting off a question like that doesn’t exactly make the story go away — if anything, it guarantees people pay closer attention. The clip spread fast precisely because it looked like an attempt to protect Altman from having to answer for something his own product may have contributed to.
OpenAI hasn’t issued a separate statement addressing the interview itself.
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 in the U.S. to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
