Some like it bot! ChatGPT promises AI-rotica is coming for verified adults

Maybe this will bring in some actual profit?

OpenAI has mitigated ChatGPT behavior that might exacerbate users' mental health issues, claims CEO Sam Altman, so the natural next step is to make ChatGPT act more human again - complete with the ability to generate "erotica for verified adults."

Altman admitted on X today that ChatGPT had its friendliness/sycophancy dialed back after concerns over how the chatbot was affecting user mental health, but it's all fine now since his company has supposedly mitigated those risks.

"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. The OpenAI kingpin made his announcement following his firm's news that it had formed an Expert Council on Well-Being and AI staffed by an octet of shrinks, computer scientists, and AI boffins that the company said would "advise us, pose questions and help define what healthy interactions with AI should look like for all ages." 

Note that OpenAI said that the council's work is ongoing - not that mental health concerns around AI have been solved. The GPT-5 Instant model was updated earlier this month to better detect emotional distress and route sensitive chats to models trained to respond safely, but it's unclear what else the company has done to address ongoing risks to users, more of which have been coming out of the woodwork in recent months. 

AI chatbots have reportedly contributed to landing people in psych wards, while studies suggest that their use among college students leads to less brain activity and impaired learning. ChatGPT use was even linked to an alleged murder-suicide in August, and reports suggest school kids are increasingly turning to it for companionship. 

It seems implausible that OpenAI has handled all of those problems in so short a time, but never mind that: Get ready for ChatGPT to start having more personality again, says Altman.

"In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o," Altman said, somewhat confusingly. (We assume he meant that ChatGPT would be allowed to have a personality again, as people usually have those by default. We asked for clarification, but didn't receive any.) 

"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," Altman continued - and it'll also get frisky. 

"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," Altman concluded - quite the titillating tease. 

Like so many other specifics, there was no mention of how OpenAI intends to handle the creation of erotic content using its chatbot, and Altman's responses in the comments of his X post only suggest users won't be shown it if they don't ask for it. 

How OpenAI intends to stop AI-generated erotic imagery from ending up in the hands of minors, prevent the creation of non-consensual imagery, and tackle other AI porn problems is unknown. Given other recent OpenAI news, it seems monetization may be the driving force for the company, which has yet to disclose profitability.  

OpenAI has been trying to figure out how to make money off the copyright kerfuffle surrounding its Sora video generator, with Altman saying last week that the company plans to compensate copyright holders who let Sora users incorporate their intellectual property into videos and images - though details are still to come.

One could imagine a similar scenario with a person's likeness, a la Sora's "cameo" feature, but without word from OpenAI on how that'll work - and the myriad other concerns that crop up when combining erotica and copyright on public platforms - the entire thing just sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

We'd love to know what OpenAI has to say about all these questions, but again, we didn't hear back. ®