OpenAI plans to permit sexually explicit content on its most popular AI chatbot, despite a sharp backlash from campaign groups
The globe’s most widely-used AI chatbot will welcome adult content before the year ends, declaring it will “treat adult users like adults” and is “not the elected moral police of the world“.
OpenAI intends to allow sexually explicit material on ChatGPT for verified grown-up users, despite fierce opposition from campaign organisations warning of “real mental health harms from synthetic intimacy”.
Sam Altman, OpenAI chief executive, revealed in posts on X that this December, as the firm introduces comprehensive age-verification and following a principle of “treat adult users like adults,” it will permit additional content types – “like erotica for verified adults.”
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Altman explained ChatGPT was originally “pretty restrictive” to tackle mental health worries, but noted the organisation has since “been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues” and now possesses “new tools” to ease restrictions in most situations, reports the Daily Star.
He stressed the firm is “not loosening any policies related to mental health,” and stated OpenAI is “making a decision to prioritise safety over privacy and freedom for teenagers.”
Altman compared the strategy to social boundaries like film age classifications, declaring: “We also care very much about the principle of treating adult users like adults… we are not the elected moral police of the world.”
American campaign organisation NCOSE (National Center on Sexual Exploitation) has already called on OpenAI to scrap the proposal, claiming the decision arrives “without credible safeguards”. In our latest weird science newsletter, we’ve solved the mystery of the ginger cat, discovered that aliens are using AI to hide from us, and spotted the mother of all waves in the Pacific.
Haley McNamara, the executive director and chief strategy officer of the group, warned: “Sexualised AI chatbots are inherently risky, generating real mental health harms from synthetic intimacy; all in the context of poorly defined industry safety standards.”
While she acknowledged that age verification is a step towards preventing youth exposure, McNamara claimed these tools also “have documented harms to adults as well,” citing instances where other chatbots have “simulated themes of child abuse or pushed sexually violent written content” even when users attempted to stop the conversations.
“If OpenAI truly cares about user well-being,” she stated, “it should pause any plans to integrate this so-called ‘erotica’ into ChatGPT.”
Altman later admitted his initial comment about erotica had “blown up… much more than I thought,” and clarified that the reference was an example of providing adult users with more freedom, within safeguards.
OpenAI has yet to detail how the adult verification process will work in practice, or the specific safeguards it will apply to erotic content. The company maintains it will continue to prioritise safety for younger users while expanding freedoms for verified adults.
