OpenAI is preparing to loosen restrictions on ChatGPT by allowing adult users to access mature content– including erotica– starting in December, CEO Sam Altman announced on his official handle on X.
The decision marks a major shift in how the company approaches content moderation on its popular AI chatbot.
“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,” Altman wrote in a post on X on Tuesday.
Altman explained that OpenAI had made ChatGPT “pretty restrictive” in recent months to ensure it was “being careful with mental health issues,” though he admitted this made the chatbot “less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems.”
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‘Treat adult users like adults’
The company now plans to widen the range of permissible content, including adult material, as part of its goal to “treat adult users like adults.” Altman said future versions of ChatGPT would behave in a “more human-like way”– but only when users explicitly want that experience.
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 decision follows similar moves by Elon Musk’s xAI, which recently introduced two sexually explicit chatbots on Grok. Analysts say the policy shift could help OpenAI attract more paying subscribers, but it may also invite greater scrutiny from lawmakers concerned about child safety and AI ethics.
Context: Legal pressure and mental health concerns
OpenAI’s policy change comes months after the company was sued by the parents of a US teenager who took his own life after using ChatGPT. The case, filed by Matt and Maria Raine, accused OpenAI of wrongful death– the first such lawsuit against an AI developer.
The California couple argued that OpenAI’s parental controls were inadequate, claiming they failed to protect minors from harmful interactions. Court filings included chat logs showing 16-year-old Adam Raine telling ChatGPT about his suicidal thoughts before his death in April.
Altman later said the company had been deliberately cautious about mental health-related content. “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,” he said, as reported by foreign media outlets.
He added that OpenAI has now developed “new tools allowing it to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.”
Despite assurances, legal experts and child-safety advocates have raised concerns about how OpenAI will enforce its new adult-only content rules.
Notably, a recent survey by the non-profit Centre for Democracy and Technology (CDT) found that one in five students said they or someone they know had developed a romantic relationship with an AI companion. The findings have intensified calls for stronger oversight of chatbot technologies.
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