Lily Jamali,North America Technology Correspondent and
Liv McMahon,BBC Technology Journalist
Reuters
OpenAI plans to allow a wider range of content, including erotica, on its popular chatbot ChatGPT as part of its push to “treat adult users like adults”, says its boss Sam Altman.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Mr Altman said upcoming versions of the popular chatbot would enable it to behave in a more human-like way – “but only if you want it, not because we are usage maxxing”.
The move, reminiscent of Elon Musk’s xAI’s recent introduction of two sexually explicit chatbots to Grok, could help OpenAI attract more paying subscribers.
It is also likely to intensify pressure on lawmakers to introduce tighter restrictions on chatbot companions.
OpenAI did not respond to the BBC’s requests for comment.
Mr Altman said OpenAI had previously made ChatGPT “pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues”.
These changes were announced in a blog post in August, which no longer appears on OpenAI’s website.
“We realise 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,” Mr Altman posted on Tuesday.
He said ChatGPT could soon relax the restrictions “now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools”.
He added: “In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our ‘treat adult users like adults’ principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.”
The changes come after OpenAI was sued earlier this year by parents of a US teen who took his own life.
The lawsuit filed by Matt and Maria Raine, who are the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine, was the first legal action accusing OpenAI of wrongful death.
The family included chat logs between Adam, who died in April, and ChatGPT that show him explaining he has suicidal thoughts.
In a statement given at the time, OpenAI told the BBC it was reviewing the filing.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to the Raine family during this difficult time,” the company said.
Child safety concerns
Written erotica does not require age verification in the UK under the Online Safety Act.
However, pornographic images, including those generated by AI, would require users to prove they are over 18.
In the US, critics say OpenAI’s decision to allow erotica on the platform shows the need for more regulation at the federal and state levels.
“How are they going to make sure that children are not able to access the portions of ChatGPT that are adult-only and provide erotica?” said Jenny Kim, a partner at the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner.
Ms Kim is involved in a lawsuit against Meta that claims the company’s Instagram’s algorithm harms the mental health of teen users.
“OpenAI, like most of big tech in this space, is just using people like guinea pigs,” she said.
In April, TechCrunch reported that OpenAI was allowing accounts in which a user had registered as a minor to generate graphic erotica.
OpenAI said at the time that the company was rolling out a fix to limit such content.
A survey published this month by the nonprofit Centre for Democracy and Technology (CDT) found that one in five students report that they or someone they know has had a romantic relationship with AI.
On Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill passed by the state legislature that would have blocked developers from offering AI chatbots companions to children unless the companies could guarantee the software wouldn’t breed harmful behaviour.
Newsom said it was “imperative that adolescents learn how to safely interact with AI systems” in a message that accompanied his veto.
At the nationwide level, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an inquiry into how AI chatbots interact with children.
In the US Senate last month, bipartisan legislation was introduced that would chatbot users to file liability claims against their developers.
Why introduce erotica?
Mr Altman’s announcement on Tuesday comes as sceptics have been questioning the rapid rise in the value of AI tech companies.
OpenAI’s revenue is growing, but it has never been profitable.
Tulane University business professor Rob Lalka, author of The Venture Alchemists, said the major AI companies find themselves in a battle for market share.
“No company has ever had the kind of adoption that OpenAI saw with ChatGPT,” Prof Lalka told BBC News.
“They needed to continue to push along that exponential growth curve, achieving market domination as much as they can,” he added.
