diff --git a/src/openai/types/responses/response.py b/src/openai/types/responses/response.py
index 6bac7d65de..d28baf18bb 100644
--- a/src/openai/types/responses/response.py
+++ b/src/openai/types/responses/response.py
@@ -315,6 +315,10 @@ def output_text(self) -> str:
             if output.type == "message":
                 for content in output.content:
                     if content.type == "output_text":
+                        # can be occasionally empty even if type is string, so we need to check for that
+                        # see issue https://github.com/openai/openai-python/issues/2822
+                        if content.text is None:  # type: ignore
+                            continue
                         texts.append(content.text)
 
         return "".join(texts)