OpenAI shuttered its AI video generator Sora just days earlier.
Plans for an erotic ChatGPT are reportedly on hold “indefinitely”, as OpenAI scrambles to redirect attention towards an enterprise market being overtaken by Anthropic.
ChatGPT’s “adult mode” launch had already been delayed amid internal discussions over safety and concerns from both staff and investors around the effects of sexualised AI content, the Financial Times reported.
OpenAI told the publication that the erotic model is on hold with no timeline for a future release, adding that it wanted to have long-term research on the effects of sexual chats as part of product development.
At the time of its announcement last October, CEO Sam Altman said that a “restrictive” ChatGPT was “less enjoyable” to its users. He said he wanted to “treat adult users like adults”.
Though the company aimed at relaxing restrictions by gradually tightening safeguards, sources told the Financial Times that OpenAI had difficulties removing illegal sexual behaviour from datasets with adult content.
A number of lawsuits also allege ChatGPT poses harm to its users, including one that accuses it of being a “suicide coach”. OpenAI began rolling out age prediction on its chatbots earlier this year.
Earlier this week, Meta lost a landmark child safety lawsuit which found that the company’s platforms enable sexual exploitation.
News of the erotic model being placed on hold comes just days after OpenAI shuttered its controversial AI video generator Sora, which was widely criticised for copyright infringement by artists and publishers alike.
Despite being a juggernaut in the AI industry, OpenAI is facing increasing pressure from rivals – the biggest being Anthropic, which is now capturing a majority of enterprise newcomers.
To compete, OpenAI is building a new desktop ‘superapp’ by fusing together ChatGPT, Codex – the company’s coding tool – and Atlas, its ChatGPT-powered browser. It also poached the founder of the viral OpenClaw projects to develop the “next-generation” personal agents.
Forrester’s VP principal analyst Thomas Husson noted days earlier that OpenAI has likely decided to minimise the associated risks arising from experimental social apps to prioritise profits and enterprise tools, as it plans for its upcoming IPO this year.
Meanwhile, the company is raising an additional $10bn on top of the $110bn it raised last month.
Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login