OpenAI PR tells Vanity Fair to 'move on' in Sam Altman interview

This exchange came during a sit-down between Vanity Fair editor Mark Guiducci and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, at a point when Guiducci raised a specific case: an essay by journalist Laura Reiley in The New York Times about her daughter's conversations with ChatGPT before she took her own life. The publicist stepped in before Guiducci could finish his sentence, citing two minutes left and a wish to "move on and talk a little bit about the future." Guiducci said he would finish the question and then return to the prior topic, but the publicist pushed back again, saying the group had to walk out the door in one or two minutes.

The interview nonetheless continued, with Guiducci asking whether OpenAI planned to use ChatGPT conversations to shape policies on responding to a user's mental-health crisis. Altman's answer focused on consent, saying it probably wouldn't be right to release people's private data and hard moments to researchers "without their consent." After the event, OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the interview was running over and that the company ultimately asked to schedule more time to continue the conversation after Sam addressed what he called this critically important topic.

The episode puts a spotlight on how AI companies handle press questions about user harm and whether a time-limit interruption was a scheduling matter or an attempt to avoid the subject. How this reads likely hinges on whether OpenAI does in fact schedule that additional time, and on whether Altman answers mental-health questions more fully in a follow-up setting.