OpenAI PR tells journalist to ‘move on’ while asking Sam Altman about a ChatGPT user’s suicide
An OpenAI publicist attempted to redirect a Vanity Fair interview with CEO Sam Altman after the publication's editor, Mark Guiducci, raised the subject of a ChatGPT user's suicide.
According to the account, the publicist warned Guiducci about running out of time and said she would like to "move on" to another topic. The interruption came shortly after 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 she took her own life.
The excerpt quotes Guiducci beginning to describe the case: "Her daughter committed suicide after speaking to ChatGPT. ChatGPT did not tell her to kill herself-" before the publicist's interjection cut in.
The report centers on the exchange itself, in which OpenAI's representative sought to change the subject after the question was posed. No statement from Altman on the matter is included in the available account, and no further response from OpenAI or Vanity Fair is provided.
Based on reporting from the original publisher. Visit the source for full context and later updates.
Publisher excerpt
An OpenAI publicist tried to change the topic of CEO Sam Altman's interview with Vanity Fair's Mark Guiducci after the editor brought up a ChatGPT user's suicide. When Guiducci confronted Altman about the incident, the publicist warned Guiducci about running out of time, saying she'd like to "move on" to another topic. The interruption came […]