ChatGPT may soon be offering verified adult users access to erotic material, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced this week without going into details.
The move marks a significant departure from the company’s long-standing ban on NSFW (not safe for work) content and is part of OpenAI’s “treat adult users like adults” initiative.
The new operation is set to begin rolling out in December.
Altman said the company’s new safety infrastructure, including expanded age-gating, parental controls, and mental health safeguards, made it possible to “safely relax restrictions in most cases”.
“We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize 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 via his X account.
“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.”
While it remains unclear exactly what types of erotica will be permitted, the move follows months of policy evolution. Earlier this year, OpenAI’s “Model Spec” page was quietly updated to clarify that only sexual content involving minors remained strictly prohibited.
The announcement comes as OpenAI faces regulatory scrutiny, including a U.S. Federal Trade Commission inquiry into potential risks to minors and a recent lawsuit alleging ChatGPT’s role in a teen’s death.
OpenAI also set up an eight-member council to advise on AI’s effects on emotional well-being. Meanwhile, a new ChatGPT version launching soon will allow users to customize personalities, part of what Altman calls a broader push toward “more human-like” interactions.
