OpenAI Publicist Tells Journalist to 'Move On' When Sam Altman Is Asked About Woman's Suicide

Altman called mental-health questions involving AI ‘some of the hardest’ faced by people developing the technology. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/TechCrunch)

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was asked about the suicide of 29-year-old Sophie Rottenberg, who had spent months using ChatGPT for mental-health support, when an OpenAI publicist interrupted the Vanity Fair interview and said, 'I'd like to move on.'

Sophie Rottenberg died by suicide in February 2025. Her mother, journalist Laura Reiley, later revealed that Rottenberg had used ChatGPT during her struggles, giving the chatbot the persona 'Harry'. Reiley detailed the case in a New York Times essay, while NPR later reported on nearly 1,800 pages of her daughter's chatbot conversations, which Reiley shared with the outlet.