Since OpenAI will reveal the arrival of the call ‘adult mode’ to ChatGPThad not given further details, except that was late. Now a little more is known thanks to the statements of an unidentified spokesperson for the company to The Wall Street Journal, where he explains that, at its launch, will consist of spicy text conversations, without using the chatbot’s ability to generate images, voice and video. Also describes this content like risqué, more than pornographyand notes that it will allow ChatGPT users to have adult-themed text conversations.
Sam AltmanCEO of the company, announced the new feature in October, ensuring that the company had managed to sufficiently mitigate some of the ‘serious mental health problems’ associated with its AI model to relax security restrictions and introduce ‘verified adult erotica’.
ChatGPT’s adult mode was expected to launch sometime this quarter, but OpenAI said earlier this month that it was delaying the rollout to focus on higher priority tasks. A new release schedule has not yet been announced.
The delay is also due to internal concerns and technical challenges related to function safeguardsaccording to information from TWSJ. In January, OpenAI’s elected advisory board warned the company that ChatGPT’s adult mode could be accessible to minors and encourage an unhealthy emotional dependence on the chatbot. One of the members of that council, whose identity has not been revealed, stated that OpenAI ran the risk of creating a ‘sexy suicide coach’.
The problems of content moderation have also contributed to the delays. Sources familiar with the matter have told the outlet that OpenAI is having difficulties lifting ChatGPT restrictions on NSFW content (Not Safe For Work, which is not appropriate for viewing at work or in public contexts) while still keeping more harmful scenarios, such as those depicting non-consensual behavior or child sexual abuse, off limits.
The age prediction system that OpenAI has developed to keep minors away from erotic content was also, at one point, misclassifying minors as adults about 12 percent of the time. Since ChatGPT attracts some 100 million users under 18 years of age every weekthat error rate could allow millions of minors to access sexual conversations with the chatbot. OpenAI age prediction algorithms show a performance similar to the rest of the sectorthe source points out to TWSJ, but ‘they will never be completely infallible’.
Sticking to text-based conversations may make it easier for the company that created ChatGPT to skirt rules like the Online Security Law of the United Kingdomwhich requires online platforms to apply age verification for pornographic images, but not for written eroticism.
It also contrasts with more visual NSFW experiences from other AI vendors, such as the ‘spicy’ companions of Grok. Last week, Elon Muskof xAIannounced that Grok’s image and video generator can produce anything you’is allowed in an R-rated movie (Restricted, minors under 17 years of age can only watch it accompanied by an adult)’.