Following backlash, OpenAI won’t be rolling out an erotic version of ChatGPT any time soon.
According to the Financial Times, the controversial plan has been shelved “indefinitely” as OpenAI “refocuses” its attention on “core products.”
Insiders told FT that OpenAI mulled scrapping the “adult mode” plan entirely, as even its own advisors warned that ChatGPT users could form unhealthy attachments, which might harm their mental health. One advisor chillingly suggested that the tweak risked turning ChatGPT into a “sexy suicide coach.”
Advisors weren’t the only ones seeing red flags, the report said.
Staff began questioning whether sexy ChatGPT aligned with OpenAI’s mission to make AI that benefits humanity. For staff working on developing “adult mode,” it apparently wasn’t worth the effort to overcome technical challenges for the feature. They faced “difficulties,” sources told FT, “training AI models that previously avoided such conversations for safety reasons to produce explicit content.” It was also hard to keep illegal behavior out of outputs, like bestiality and incest, when using datasets that included sexual content, sources said.
Sexy ChatGPT also apparently turned off investors. Two people familiar with the matter told FT that “OpenAI’s flirtation with adult mode had caused disquiet,” as some investors questioned why OpenAI would risk its reputation on a product with “relatively small upside” for its business.
Even without erotic responses, ChatGPT has been linked to mental health harms in both kids and adults through lawsuits alleging that OpenAI recklessly released the chatbot without appropriate safeguards.
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