OpenAI publicist tried to redirect Altman from question about a ChatGPT user’s suicide

During a Vanity Fair interview, editor Mark Guiducci began asking Sam Altman about a woman whose family has said she used ChatGPT before dying by suicide. An OpenAI publicist interrupted, citing limited time and asking to shift the conversation toward the company’s future. Altman said he could stay and went on to answer a question about whether companies should use private chats to learn more about mental-health crises, saying such material should not be shared without users’ consent. OpenAI later said the interview had run over and that it offered to schedule more time, but the exchange put a familiar tension in plain view: AI companies are being pressed to explain safety risks while handling intensely private user data.