If you’ve been wondering when ChatGPT might start having more exciting conversations, OpenAI has clarity for you. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company plans to allow adults to exchange erotic text messages while strictly banning explicit images, voice clones or video content. A spokesperson described the planned feature as more smut than pornography, signaling a careful attempt to offer more racist interactions without turning the chatbot into a full-fledged adult entertainment platform.
However, there were delays in the rollout. OpenAI recently pushed back on Adult Mode, originally planned for the first quarter, citing technical hurdles and internal debates over security. A big sticking point is keeping minors away. The company’s new age prediction system misclassified about 12 percent of under-18s as adults, an error that could have allowed millions of young users to access adult chat.
The tricky art of drawing lines
OpenAI has been figuring out these limits for years, long before ChatGPT existed. Back in 2021, executives noticed that AI Dungeon, a text-based adventure game running on the OpenAI platform, sometimes pushed users into violent sexual scenarios without prompting. In other cases, the AI elevated tame conversations into much more intense sexual conversations.
These early incidents revealed a chaotic reality. The company’s content moderation tools were blunt instruments and could not reliably distinguish mainstream erotica from material that contained non-consensual acts or child exploitation.
The current approach attempts to counteract this goal by allowing adult conversations only in text form while maintaining a strict ban on the generation of offensive images, videos or voices.
Why OpenAI feels pressured to offer adult chats
The company’s foray into adult conversations comes at a difficult time. OpenAI’s technological lead over rivals such as xAI and Anthropic has narrowed, and the company faces increasing financial losses as it competes for users and funding. Sam Altman has suggested that explicit content would likely boost growth and generate additional revenue, an enticing prospect given the pressures.
However, the CEO has publicly expressed conflicting feelings. In a podcast last August, Altman was asked if he had made decisions that were the best for the world but not the best for winning. He acknowledged that erotica would drive growth, but said that would not be consistent with the company’s long-term goal of providing good service to users.
Two months later, Altman appeared to change course. He posted on
What happens next to Adult Mode?
OpenAI has made it clear that despite the delay, Adult Mode is coming at some point. The company has hired mental health experts and built a youth wellness team to monitor long-term effects once adult mode is introduced. It also trains its models not to encourage exclusive relationships with users and to remind them that they need connections to the real world.
Users who are curious about ChatGPT adult conversations will have to wait for now. The company is prioritizing other features like personality customizations and personalization while working on the remaining hurdles.
