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WSJ: OpenAI Advisers Furious Over "Adult Mode" Plans; Israel: Top Iranian Leaders Killed In Overnight Strikes; Trump Pressures U.S. Allies To Help Secure Strait Of Hormuz; Airline CEO's Make Plea To Congress To End Partial Shutdown; Airport Security Lines Grow As TSA Goes Unpaid Amid Shutdown; Kouri Richins Found Guilty Of Murder, Sentencing Set For May 13. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 17, 2026 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: -- and neuroscience. They raised concerns about this in a meeting with the company in January. And this is not totally surprising, right? We've seen a number of concerns about users becoming more dependent on chatbots. OpenAI has faced lawsuits from families who say that ChatGPT encourage their young children or teenagers to commit suicide.

And we've also heard these concerns about the risks that young people could access sexual content by chatting with AI chatbots. So OpenAI is now saying, as of earlier this month, that it is delaying the rollout of adult mode in part because the company is working to make sure that it's AI-age estimation feature that would block kids from accessing these kinds of erotic conversations --

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Right.

DUFFY: -- with ChatGPT. They want to make sure that is working before they roll it out. An OpenAI spokesperson told me yesterday, quote, "We still believe in the principle of treating adults like adults, but getting this experience right will take more time." And they have not said what the timeline for this is now.

But it is really interesting, too, as we watch sort of the different directions that this company is going in. On one end --

BOLDUAN: And the different approaches different companies are taking, right?

DUFFY: Exactly. We're seeing this real divergence across the industry in terms of whether these companies will allow these types of sexualized content and conversations with AI chatbots. But we're also seeing OpenAI sort of exploring so many different areas for its business. On the one hand, continuing to say that it will eventually allow these erotic conversations with adults, but also making this big push into the enterprise market, wanting to make coding available.

BOLDUAN: Yes. DUFFY: It's got this big deal with the Department of Defense now that we've talked so much about. And so interesting to see this company try to figure out where its core business is going to be.

BOLDUAN: Yes, where it really is going to focus in. Yes. It's good to see you, Clare. Thanks so much for that.

A new hour of CNN News Central starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: All right, breaking news this morning, Israel claims it has killed perhaps the most powerful man in Iran. We are standing by for confirmation and maybe new fallout.

All right, pictures from just a short time ago at airport security lines. Look at them go on and on and on. This is a brutal cocktail of weather, the partial government shutdown, and TSA workers that are just fed up.

And the next wave of wedding proposals, enlisting the help of a robot. But here's a question. When this whole thing is over, if it's successful, is it the robot who's actually engaged?

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

SARA SIDNER, CNN HOST: Breaking news this morning. Israel says it has killed Iran's top security official, Ali Larijani. He is or was perhaps the single most powerful man in the country who was seen as the right-hand man to Iran's late supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. Iran has not confirmed his death so far, but the Israeli military also said it killed the head of Iran's feared Basij paramilitary force.

Also overnight, the U.S. embassy in Iraq coming under attack. An explosion lighting up the sky there. You can see the smoke rising into the air over Baghdad. The air defense system that protects the embassy with a gun that shoots 4,500 rounds, you can hear it, per minute, shot down two of the drones, but a third struck inside the embassy compound, according to Reuters.

There's also been a new attack near the Strait of Hormuz, that critical oil shipping route. Officials say an unknown projectile struck a tanker anchored off the coast of the UAE, causing minor damage there. And Iranian state media is now claiming an explosion ripped through another ship docked in that region.

President Trump is slamming U.S. allies this morning who refused to help secure the Strait. And there are conflicting accounts from the White House and Iranian officials over whether Iran has reached out to try to restart diplomatic talks.

Joining me now are CNN Global Affairs Analyst Brett McGurk and Kim Dozier. Brett, first to you. Look, Israel says it's killed Larijani, he is hugely powerful or was in the country. How much -- how important is this? How much will this affect the ability of the current regime to function in this war? BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Sara, Iran created a system with no indispensable officials. That's the design. It's distributed power. But, in fact, Ali Larijani is about as indispensable, about as irreplaceable as you can get. He's had a whole career across the entire system from the Revolutionary Guards, which we've talked a lot about, to the Supreme Leader's office.

He was the longest-serving speakers of parliament. His family has positions throughout the government. And he has been the figure in this crisis, going back to the June War and now this most recent conflict. He has been out front, kind of like, basically everybody believes he's the power behind the throne with a couple others behind Mojtaba, the new Supreme Leader, who has not been seen.

[08:05:01]

So it is hugely significant to wake up to this news, Sara. And we're heading into Nowruz, the Persian New Year, this weekend. You know, we'll see what happens. I mean, Iranians usually come out in the streets and celebrate the Basij militia, and the leader of the Basij militia, Sara, was also killed last night in a strike. That is the internal apparatus that maintains internal security and is responsible for those crackdowns against protesters.

So, really dynamic situation. I think this war is going to go on for some time, Sara. I think we're maybe at the halfway mark. But this is a significant development. How it plays out? We have to see. I'm too early to draw a conclusion.

SIDNER: Yes, I guess we're going into day 18 of the war.

Kim, I do want to ask you about what is happening here. You've got this report that the United States says Iran reached out. Iran is saying it didn't. But with Larijani, who was a former negotiator in the nuclear talks, if Israel keeps killing off commanders and supreme leaders, how do negotiations ever go forward?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, the risk at taking out some of these key figures is, you know, remember, Larijani was one of the key people that got the original Iran nuclear deal through the Iranian parliament, got it made into policy and basically held out against some of the hardliners in the IRGC who didn't want to do a deal with the United States.

When you take out anyone who originally had argued for patience or for some conservative action, the original Ayatollah Khamenei had argued not to build a nuclear bomb. He had them right up at the edge, but he was worried that actually building a bomb would trigger a violent response. Those voices are now getting silenced by missiles.

And the next generation taking their place is likely to be less experienced and far more extreme and radical with this drive to prove themselves. And that means fewer people to talk to.

SIDNER: Brett, you wrote this thoughtful piece on what the options are now for the United States, that it finds itself in this war, which you're saying you think is probably around the halfway point. Can you give us some sense of what those options are?

MCGURK: A lot of focus, Sara, on a naval coalition to come into the Strait of Hormuz. And I've been involved in building coalitions across my career. I just -- coalitions take time to build. Every single country, even our closest allies, they have legal requirements, political requirements. And once you get over those hurdles, you then have to go military to military, rules of engagement.

So I would say in the best case, even if we had countries lining up, we're weeks away from having a naval coalition in the Strait of Hormuz. I think that work has to get underway, but there's really no quick fix here. So what I would anticipate over the coming weeks and weeks is the military campaign, the CENTCOM military campaign, which is proceeding methodically day after day, Sara, kind of taking apart Iran's defense industrial base, their ability to project power, that will continue to go on as this diplomacy goes on in the Straits of Hormuz.

But it's going to take time to build a coalition, even in the best case. And as we've seen in the past couple of days, a lot of our allies, because of the treatment by the Trump administration, have been very reluctant. And they have their own politics in their capitals.

I suspect we will see the U.K. Prime Minister of Japan is here on Thursday. I think that will be an important meeting. We might see some contributions from Japan. A lot's going on behind the scenes, but there's no quick fix here to the Strait of Hormuz issue.

ANDERSON: Yes, easy to get into a war, hard to get out of one.

Brett McGurk, Kim Dozier, thank you both so much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Patients running out while security lines are running long, hours long in some places after TSA agents quit, they're working without pay amid the partial government shutdown. Now, what America's top airlines are calling out and calling for.

And Cuba is in the dark. The island-wide blackout is leaving 10 million people in the dark, and now there is a race to restore power at the latest from there.

And leading medical groups are issuing new guidance on cholesterol treatment. Why they say you should start as soon as your 30s now.

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[08:13:36]

BOLDUAN: A tough morning for air travel across the country. We want to show you pictures of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta this morning. Hours long wait times to get through security there. So the CEOs of America's biggest airlines are writing an open letter to Congress to fund TSA and try to end this because this is going on partially because of the partial government shutdown. The CEOs say, quote, "In these times when it's hard to reach consensus on just about anything, it is significant that the vast majority of Americans want Congress to pay federal aviation workers, keep our national airspace system secure and ensure travelers in packages can get to their destinations safely."

With us now is the former governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu, who is currently the president and CEO of Airlines for America.

So, Mr. President, I can call you, at least for today. So, these CEOs that you are working with at Airlines for America, what is it you want to see happen by whom? This partial government shutdown is the holdup is over funding for the President's immigration crackdown. So, what do you think should happen?

CHRIS SUNUNU, PRESIDENT & CEO, AIRLINES FOR AMERICA: Well, they should vote yes. So remember, there's no funding over ICE issue here in that ICE is already funded. It was funded in the Big, Beautiful Bill. So that's not going to fundamentally change. This is a purely political play.

And so, the poll numbers speak for themselves. Over 90 percent of Americans want TSA agents paid. Over 90 percent of Americans want this nonsense to end.

[08:15:04]

You can't get 90 percent of Americans to agree on almost anything. But this is something. And so, I think the data is there. The demand is there, even that we're going to see record numbers of travel over the next 45 days. We're still in that spring break mode.

People are spending money. We're going into the summer pretty soon. So there's a record number of bookings coming in this summer. So, the pressure on the system is there. The demand is there. And the political opportunity is there, right?

Because the issue was folks wanted to see a change at Homeland Security. They're going to get new leadership. They wanted the Minnesota issue to calm down and be better managed. They're getting that. They wanted body cameras. They're getting that.

So, whether you want to call it the White House or the administration has kind of given in and made some changes that folks wanted to see. Well, now pay your own federal workers that have nothing to do with this. And that's your TSA agents.

And, again, you see those lines. You see the pressure on the system. You know, I was a governor. That's what negotiation is. You go and say, OK, what am I willing to give in on? One side has given in. The Democrats really aren't coming to the table.

So, I'm not -- I don't want to put blame on one side or the other. We don't care. We're agnostic as to who delivers the best result. But the answer is say yes. There's Bill sitting right there. Say yes, fund these opportunities. Keep managing. You have the new secretary coming in. Keep managing Homeland Security with some new policies or whatever you want to see with that -- with the new secretary coming in. But get the system operating. It's kind of the basic fundamental of government to fund and pay your own employees.

BERMAN: I want to ask you about another issue facing the airline industry this morning. Just a few minutes ago, the CEO of Delta, Ed Bastian, was on TV. Listen to what he said about jet fuel prices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED BASTIAN, CEO, DELTA AIR LINES: Jet fuel prices have almost doubled just since the start of the quarter. And that's a fairly significant hit for us. About $400 million in the quarter. That said, the demand strength has been really, really great.

There's been a number of fare increases just in the last two weeks. The industry -- Delta's brand is really strong. And so when you have that level of resiliency, you have that strength of pull for demand. Customers understand if fuel prices are up, you need to cost doing business. It's incumbent upon us to figure out ways to recover that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Jet fuel prices have doubled, he says, since the war on Iran began. What kind of pressure is this putting on the industry?

SUNUNU: Oh, yes. No, there's no doubt it's pressure. I mean, the hope is that the jet fuel price is the increase that you're going to see. Jet fuel is about 25 percent of the cost of putting an airplane in there -- on the operation. So it's a very large amount considering the overall operation. So when that doubles, unfortunately, you're going to see ticket prices go up.

The good news is this. Ticket prices, domestic airfares are as low as they've ever been, right? Even -- you know, before this increase on jet fuel. So it's more affordable than everybody -- oh, yeah. Oh, jet -- domestic air travel has gone down 3 percent since 2019. Nothing else in America has dropped 3 percent in average price since 2019. Everything else is up 30 percent.

So, yes, this is a spike. We want it to be temporary until you secure the Strait of Hormuz. We're really not going to get there. Hopefully that gets done in the next 45 days. And any sort of price increases are temporary bumps. We're seeing a lot of people booking into the summer right now. So, that's a very positive thing.

But, yes, if this issue in Iran were to go beyond Memorial Day or something like that, then the way I put it is that the pricing would get a little stickier, right? You'd probably see it last not just through the summer, but maybe even into the fall. So, everybody understands whether it's shipping a product to a grocery store or paying the jet fuel prices on an airline. America needs to see the resolution in the next couple of months here in Iran. BERMAN: Yes. As someone trying to book some flights for some people, I think its prices seem to be creeping up a little bit since this war began. We will see where they go over the next several weeks.

Former Governor Chris Sununu, just a couple of Irish guys talking on St. Patrick's Day wearing green. Nice to see you this morning. Thank you.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: Up ahead for us, how the U.S. military has leaned on artificial intelligence in a whole new way in launching its operation in Iran.

Plus, the verdict is in. A Utah woman who wrote a children's book about grief after her husband's death is now found guilty of his murder.

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[08:23:17]

BOLDUAN: So the Utah woman, a mother of three, who wrote a children's book about coping with grief after her husband's death has now just been found guilty of murdering him. It was three hours of deliberation. A jury returned the verdict, ruling that Kouri Richins is guilty of poisoning her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl. And she's now set to face sentencing in May.

CNN's Jean Casarez has been following this very closely, and she's here with us now. What do you make of the verdict? And now what does this mean for sentencing?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, potential life in prison.

BOLDUAN: OK.

CASAREZ: So the jury believed beyond a reasonable doubt that Kouri Richins poisoned her husband to death. Think about it, with a massive amount of fentanyl in his drink, March 3rd and 4th, 2022. And she attempted to murder him on Valentines, a few weeks before with a lace sandwich.

The judge in court after that three-hour deliberation said, I want no outward emotion at all. Keep your hands in your lap. If you feel you're going to be emotional, just lower your head. Let's watch that verdict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aggravated murder. We, the jury, unanimously find that the defendant, Kouri Richins, is guilty of aggravated murder. We, the jury, unanimously agree that the prosecution has proved the following circumstance or circumstances regarding count one beyond a reasonable doubt. The homicide was committed for pecuniary gain and the homicide was committed by means of the administration of any substance administered in a lethal amount, dosage, or quantity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:25:00]

CASAREZ: And so with that, it went outside and the sister of Eric Richins, the victim, the 39-year-old father of three, who is no longer with us, she spoke for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY RICHINS, ERIC RICHINS' SISTER: Honestly, I feel like we're all in shock, still. It's kind of -- it's been a long time coming. So just very happy that we got justice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you surprised how quickly it came down?

RICHINS: A little bit, yes. I think everybody was, but I think the jurors did a fantastic job. So I'm just so grateful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And the jury had to find aggravating factors because this was aggravated murder --

BOLDUAN: Yes.

CASAREZ: -- the strongest charge in Utah. And they found pecuniary gain on both attempted and aggravated murder. She wanted money. She wanted to get life insurance policy. She wanted half of his very lucrative business, which was about $4 million at his death.

And money was so important to her and the opulence that it showed to the community. And that's what the prosecutor drove home in the closing arguments. The defense, of course, made many appellate issues they believe are strong for appeal.

BOLDUAN: So we could see what happens -- how this will continue to potentially be battled, but facing potential life in prison now.

Great to see you, Jean. Thank you so much for coming in. It was a remarkable, remarkable and tragic trial to follow. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Coming up, this is important for your health. Why treating your cholesterol levels should start as soon as your 30s. The new guidelines from leading medical groups when we return.

And if you thought robots could already do it all, wait until you see this. The company that's now renting out humanoids to help you pop the question. No.

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