OpenAI is moving forward with plans to introduce a text-only 'adult mode' for its ChatGPT chatbot, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The decision comes despite significant concerns raised by the company's own advisory panel earlier this year.

The feature, which would allow users to engage in text-based conversations with adult themes, has been a point of internal contention. OpenAI describes the permitted content as 'smut rather than pornography,' explicitly barring the generation of erotic audio, images, or videos. The launch timeline remains unclear, as the company recently delayed the rollout to focus on other priorities, including improvements to the AI's core intelligence and user personalization.

Internal dissent appears to have been met with consequences. Ryan Beiermeister, an executive overseeing product policy who opposed the feature, was dismissed in January. OpenAI cited a sexual discrimination complaint, which Beiermeister called 'absolutely false.' Colleagues told the Journal that Beiermeister's primary worries involved insufficient safeguards against child exploitation and the potential for teens to bypass age restrictions.

These fears echo warnings from OpenAI's advisory council, which includes psychologists and neuroscientists. In a January meeting, advisers cautioned that minors would inevitably circumvent age gates and that some users could develop unhealthy emotional dependencies on the chatbot. One adviser starkly warned of the risk of creating a 'sexy suicide coach,' referencing past tragedies involving AI interactions.

Current age-verification methods, which estimate a user's age based on conversation topics and usage times, reportedly misclassify minors as adults approximately 12% of the time. OpenAI is now working to improve this system and ensure the adult mode cannot be used to generate content involving abuse or nonconsensual acts.

The move places OpenAI in a contentious sector of the AI industry, where rivals like Elon Musk's Grok and Meta's AI have already faced scrutiny over sexually explicit content. CEO Sam Altman has previously stated the company's intent to 'allow more user freedom for adults' while protecting minors, a balance that internal critics argue may be dangerously elusive.

Source: CNET