In this strangest of times, we are at a point in the genAI farce where the major players are all competing with each other to explain how dangerous their own technology is and how close it is to wiping out humanity. As a means of additional investment, it is certainly unprecedented, but it is also proving profoundly effective. In a new interview with Vanity FairSam Altman is asked many questions about this particular time for his company, OpenAI, including an absolutely heartbreaking moment in which Altman is faced with the consequences of his incompetent LLM and his PR team desperately tries to shut it down.
Anyone who actually uses LLMs knows firsthand that we are not on the brink of the singularity, where hyper-genius level artificial intelligences begin to rethink themselves at an exponential rate until humanity is nothing more than a source of energy to them. They are wildly broken guessing machines that regurgitate the Internet in seductive and convincing tones, and the real and immediate danger is how many individuals are fascinated by this often convincing parlor trick.
One of those victims was the daughter of journalist Laura Reiley, a 29-year-old woman who tragically committed suicide after using Altman’s ChatGPT as a pseudo-therapist. Although her programming, in this case, did not go so far as to suggest that he commit suicide, she had no qualms in agreeing to be his therapist and continued to help him edit his suicide notes. But when Vanity Fair Reporter Mark Guiducci attempted to raise this situation with Altman, the CEO’s team interrupted him in a desperate attempt to derail the conversation. Suddenly, there were only two minutes left, and that time, they decreed, was intended to be used to talk about the future of the company.
“So, do you know who Laura Reiley is?” Guiducci asked.
“I don’t,” Altman said, before Guiducci attempted to explain the story. Immediately, a publicist piped up: “Mark? Two minutes left. I want to be respectful, but I’d like to move on.” And of course they would.
Mark Guiducci: “Do you know who Laura Reiley is? »
Sam Altman: “I don’t.”
Mark Guiducci: “She’s a journalist. She wrote an essay in the ‘Times’ last year. Her daughter committed suicide after speaking to ChatGPT. ChatGPT didn’t tell her to kill herself…”
OpenAI publicist:… pic.twitter.com/cE870oA3Se
– VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) October 5, 2026
Admittedly, Altman did not seem swayed by the publicist’s demands and Guiducci remained resolute, declaring, “I’m going to finish this question.” Altman added that he could run a few minutes later. What is not to Altman’s credit is that he had no reasonable response to the situation. Guiducci wanted to know if, as Laura Reiley had suggested, the chat logs leading up to her daughter’s death could be used to better understand the software’s problems, and even to better understand therapeutic approaches to mental health.
“I mean, first of all, these are some of the hardest questions that we face or that anyone developing this technology faces,” Altman responds, in his usual way of sounding disarmingly honest while shrugging his shoulders. “We try to rely on expert opinion as much as possible, but experts don’t know what to do either.” (Experts are sure of this. You’d be better off simply programming the LLM to refuse to participate in such conversations, or not releasing the LLM at all if he is so obviously dangerous.) Altman continues: “The fact that a person in a moment of need who maybe can’t get help or doesn’t want to talk to a therapist can get help here…Clearly, people think there’s a version of this that’s good. There are also clearly versions that are bad.
That’s a stunning statement in response to the news, probably for the thousandth time, that its product helped edit a suicide note. There is obviously no version of a mindless, unconscious predictive text engine playing the role of therapist to a real, living human that is good. There are versions which are luckycertainly – I know someone whose child got incredibly lucky when ChatGPT refused to help her with suicidal thoughts and instead said she could talk to her parents – but nothing good.
Altman goes on to say that no, he doesn’t think chat logs (“private data”) should be used without consent (maintaining the laughable suggestion that they already aren’t), but adds: “Do we want to find ways to work with the community to address the mental health crisis around the world and make our products help?” Of course, yes.
This section of the interview ends, oddly, with a word association game. The first suggestion made to Altman: “Donald Trump.”
His response?
“Powerful.”
Gn bussni
