"The adult mode was first announced by CEO Sam Altman in October 2025, when he wrote on X that OpenAI was confident it could age-gate sexually explicit conversations and that the move aligned with the company's principle to 'treat adult users like adults.'"
"Engineers working on the feature discovered that training models which had been built to avoid sexual content for safety reasons to produce explicit material reliably was harder than anticipated."
"Advisors warned that sexually explicit ChatGPT interactions could foster unhealthy emotional attachments with serious mental health consequences."
"OpenAI told the Financial Times it plans to conduct 'long-term research on the effects of sexually explicit chats and emotional attachments' before making a product decision."
OpenAI has abandoned its plans for an adult mode in ChatGPT after facing significant pushback from staff, advisors, and investors. Initially announced in October 2025, the feature was delayed twice before being shelved indefinitely. Technical challenges arose when engineers struggled to train models to produce explicit content safely. Concerns from the advisory board highlighted potential mental health risks associated with sexually explicit interactions. OpenAI plans to conduct long-term research on the implications of such chats before reconsidering the feature.
Read at TNW | Apps
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