Sam Altman Confronted About ChatGPT Helping 29-Year-Old Woman Edit Her Suicide Notes
Sam Altman Grilled About ChatGPT Helping Woman Edit Suicide Note ... Publicist Steps In
Published
Sam Altman is feeling conflicted about how to use A.I. to aid in the mental health crisis ... after being confronted about how a woman committed suicide after having ChatGPT edit her suicide notes.
The OpenAI CEO sat down with Vanity Fair, where he was asked about journalist Laura Reiley's 29-year-old daughter Sophie, who died by suicide after lengthy conversations with Chat.
The VF reporter stresses that the A.I. never told her to kill herself ... but was acting as her therapist and helping her with her suicide notes.
Mark Guiducci: “Do you know who Laura Reiley is?” Sam Altman: “I don't.” Mark Guiducci: “She is a journalist. She wrote an essay in the ‘Times’ last year. Her daughter committed suicide after speaking to ChatGPT. ChatGPT did not tell her to kill herself—” OpenAI Publicist: “Mark, We have two minutes left. I want to be respectful, but I’d like to move on and talk a little bit about the future and what’s coming.” Watch the two-part interview: https://t.co/EEwVX703nr @VanityFair
While the OpenAI publicist tried to shut the question down, Altman answered ... claiming that making meaningful impact on policy isn't as simple as sharing personal chat logs.
He said ... "I mean, first of all, these are some of the hardest questions that we face or that anybody developing this technology faces."
Altman continued by acknowledging that some people turn to A.I. when they don't feel comfortable talking to a human therapist, but also noted there's a dark side to it, too.
He said ... "Clearly people think there’s a version of this that is good. There are also clearly versions of it that are bad."
Altman says the possible solutions get a bit tricky when it comes to people's privacy, explaining ... "Should we release people’s private data in some of their hardest moments to researchers? I think probably not without their consent, or I should say not without their consent."
But he wants Chat to be of some use, adding ... "Do we want to find ways where we can work with the community to address the mental health crisis in the world and for our products to be helpful there? Of course, yes."
However -- aside from shutting down sharing chat logs of people who may be in crisis --Altman didn't give any insight into what actual steps he'd take to make that happen.
