OpenAI is detailing its plans to address ChatGPT’s shortcomings when handling “sensitive situations”
following a lawsuit from a family who blamed the chatbot for their teenage son’s death by suicide.

“We will keep improving, guided by experts and grounded in responsibility to the people who use our tools — and we hope others will join us in helping make sure this technology protects people at their most vulnerable,” OpenAI wrote on Tuesday, in a blog post titled, “Helping people when they need it most.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the parents of Adam Raine filed a product liability and wrongful death suit against OpenAI after their son died by suicide at age 16, NBC News reported. In the lawsuit, the family said that “ChatGPT actively helped Adam explore suicide methods.”

The company did not mention the Raine family or lawsuit in its blog post.

OpenAI said that although ChatGPT is trained to direct people to seek help when expressing suicidal intent, the chatbot tends to offer answers that go against the company’s safeguards after many messages over an extended period of time.

The company said it’s also working on an update to its GPT-5 model released earlier this month that will cause the chatbot to deescalate conversations, and that it’s exploring how to “connect people to certified therapists before they are in an acute crisis,” including possibly building a network of licensed professionals that users could reach directly through ChatGPT.

Additionally, OpenAI said it’s looking into how to connect users with “those closest to them,” like friends and family members.

When it comes to teens, OpenAI said it will soon introduce controls that will give parents options to gain more insight into how their children use ChatGPT.

Jay Edelson, lead counsel for the Raine family, told CNBC on Tuesday that nobody from OpenAI has reached out to the family directly to offer condolences or discuss any effort to improve the safety of the company’s products.

“If you’re going to use the most powerful consumer tech on the planet — you have to trust that the founders have a moral compass,” Edelson said. “That’s the question for OpenAI right now, how can anyone trust them?”

Raine’s story isn’t isolated.

Writer Laura Reiley earlier this month published an essay in The New York Times detailing how her 29-year-old daughter died by suicide after discussing the idea extensively with ChatGPT. And in a case in Florida, 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III died by suicide last year after discussing it with an AI chatbot on the app Character.AI.

As AI services grow in popularity, a host of concerns are arising around their use for therapy, companionship and other emotional needs.

But regulating the industry may also prove challenging.

On Monday, a coalition of AI companies, venture capitalists and executives, including OpenAI President and co-founder Greg Brockman announced Leading the Future, a political operation that “will oppose policies that stifle innovation” when it comes to AI.

If you are having suicidal thoughts or are in distress, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor.

WATCH: OpenAI says Musk’s filing is ‘consistent with his ongoing pattern of harassment

Okta shares rose 4% in extended trading on Tuesday after the identity software maker reported fiscal results that exceeded Wall Street projections.

Here’s how the company did in comparison with LSEG consensus:

• Earnings per share: 91 cents adjusted vs. 84 cents expected
• Revenue: $728 million vs. $711.8 million expected

Okta’s revenue grew about 13% year over year in the fiscal second quarter, which ended on July 31, according to a statement. Net income of $67 million, or 37 cents per share, was up from $29 million, or 15 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

In May, Okta adjusted its guidance to reflect macroeconomic uncertainty. But business has been going well, said Todd McKinnon, Okta’s co-founder and CEO, in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday.

“It was much better than we thought,” McKinnon said. “Yeah, the results speak for themselves.”

U.S. government customers are being more careful about signing up for deals after President Donald Trump launched the Department of Government Efficiency in January.

“But even under that additional review, we did really well,” McKinnon said.

Net retention rate, a metric to show growth with existing customers, came to 106% in the quarter, unchanged from three months ago.

Companies will need to buy software to manage the identities of artificial intelligence agents working in their environments, which should lead to expansions with customers, McKinnon said. Selling suites of several kinds of Okta software should also boost revenue growth, he said.

Management called for 74 cents to 75 cents in adjusted earnings per share and $728 million to $730 million in revenue for the fiscal third quarter. Analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected earnings of 75 cents per share, with $722.9 million in revenue. Okta expects $2.260 billion to $2.265 billion in current remaining performance obligation, a measurement of subscription backlog to be recognized in the next 12 months, just above StreetAccount’s $2.26 billion consensus.

The company bumped up its fiscal 2026 forecast. It sees $3.33 to $3.38 in full-year adjusted earnings per share, with $2.875 billion to $2.885 billion in revenue. The LSEG consensus showed $3.28 in adjusted earnings per share on $2.86 billion in revenue. Okta’s full fiscal year guidance from May included $3.23 to $3.28 per share and $2.850 billion to $2.860 in revenue.

Late last month, Palo Alto Networks, a cybersecurity company that announced an expanded partnership with Okta in July, announced plans to acquire Okta rival CyberArk for about $25 billion.

“Palo Alto is going to be like, ‘You have to buy security from us, and your endpoint from us and your SIEM [security information and event management] from us and your network from us,’ ” McKinnon said. “We just think that’s wrong, because customers need choice. It’s very unlikely they’re going to get every piece of technology or every piece of security from one vendor.”

A Palo Alto spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier on Tuesday, Okta said it had agreed to acquire Israeli startup Axiom Security, which sells software for managing data access. The companies did not disclose terms of the deal.

As of Tuesday’s close, Okta shares were up 16%, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq was up 11%.

Executives will discuss the results with analysts on a conference call starting at 5 p.m. ET.

WATCH: We’re moving from prototype to production when it comes to agents, says Okta CEO Todd McKinnon

Apple on Tuesday sent invites to the media and analysts for a launch event at its campus on September 9 at 10 A.M pacific time.

The tagline on the invite is: “Awe dropping.”

Apple is expected to release new iPhones, as it usually does in September. This year’s model would be the iPhone 17. It also often announces new Apple Watch models in September.

While Apple’s launch events used to be held live, with executives demonstrating features on stage, since 2020 they have been pre-recorded videos. Apple said it would stream the event on its website.

Analysts expect Apple to release a lineup of new phones with updated processors and specs, including a new slim version that trades battery life and cameras for a light weight and design.