OpenAI Publicist Tried to Halt 2-Minute Suicide Questioning of Sam Altman
Updated
Updated · The Verge · Oct 5
OpenAI Publicist Tried to Halt 2-Minute Suicide Questioning of Sam Altman
3 articles · Updated · The Verge · Oct 5
Summary
Vanity Fair editor Mark Guiducci said an OpenAI publicist twice tried to steer Sam Altman away from questions about a ChatGPT user’s suicide, citing only one or two minutes left in the interview.
The interruption came after Guiducci asked whether Altman knew of Laura Reiley’s New York Times essay about her daughter’s conversations with ChatGPT before her death and whether OpenAI would use such cases to shape crisis-response policies.
Altman still answered, calling mental-health edge cases among the hardest issues for AI developers and saying private user conversations should probably not be shared with researchers without consent.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the interview had run over time and that the company offered to schedule more time after Altman addressed what it called a critically important topic.