OpenAI says yes to "erotica" for adult users
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Sam Altman. Photo: Florian Gaertner via Getty Images
ChatGPT will allow a wider range of content — eventually including "erotica" — now that OpenAI has completed work to enable the chatbot to better handle mental health issues, CEO Sam Altman said Tuesday.
Why it matters: The move could boost OpenAI as it seeks to sign up consumers for paid subscriptions, but it's also likely to increase pressure on lawmakers to enact meaningful regulations.
Driving the news: Altman said in an X post that OpenAI plans to allow ChatGPT to have more personality and fulfill previously blocked requests.
- "Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases," Altman said.
- "As part of our 'treat adult users like adults' principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults," he added, though that would come around December.
The intrigue: The move comes as lawmakers are eyeing tighter restrictions on chatbot companions.
- As first reported by Axios, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is circulating a draft bill that would ban AI companions for minors.
What they're saying: "We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues," Altman said in the post. "We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right."
- OpenAI was not immediately available for comment.
The big picture: Historically, pornography has helped drive the frontier of technology, from VCRs to digital video and interactive gaming.
- Although adult entertainment hasn't been the driving force behind the leading AI efforts, there is already a significant cottage industry of AI-generated porn.
- Elon Musk's Grok has been the most permissive of the large players, notably offering AI companions designed for sexual role-play.
- Meta has also come under fire after it was revealed that its chatbots — including some that mimic specific celebrities — were engaging in sexual banter with minors.
What to watch: Altman said that in the coming weeks, people will be able to better dictate the tone and personality of ChatGPT.
- "If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing)," Altman said.
