Naughty or Nice? ChatGPT to Allow Erotica in December, Says Sam Altman

Gooners of the world, rejoice!

OpenAI will enable ChatGPT to generate erotic content material for verified adults beginning in December, marking a dramatic shift from the corporate’s traditionally restrictive method to sexual content material. CEO Sam Altman introduced the change Tuesday, saying the corporate would comply with a “deal with grownup customers like adults” precept as soon as complete age verification rolls out.

“In December, as we roll out age-gating extra absolutely and as a part of our ‘deal with grownup customers like adults’ precept, we are going to enable much more, like erotica for verified adults,” Altman wrote on X.

The transfer addresses years of consumer frustration with ChatGPT’s content material filters. Since its launch, the chatbot has eschewed sexual content material, usually blocking even scientific discussions or artistic writing that talked about intimacy. Customers making an attempt to generate romance novel passages or discover mature themes had been met with warnings about coverage violations, main many to hunt various AI fashions.

“Every little thing is rejected as ‘too political’ [or] ‘too sexual’ (Actually simply questions on kissing and non-sexual bodily intimacy),” one pissed off consumer wrote on OpenAI’s Jailbreak subreddit not too long ago, describing how ChatGPT shut down even metaphorical depictions of specific scenes regardless of up to date utilization insurance policies that theoretically allowed such content material.

A number of discussion board threads doc comparable complaints, with customers reporting that filters tightened once more a few month in the past after briefly easing earlier this yr. Apparently, the censorship problem was vital sufficient for ChatGPT customers to launch a Change.org petition a couple of weeks in the past, asking OpenAI to arrange an “Grownup Mode” to allow them to chat with much less restrictions. The letter bought over 3,000 signatures in lower than per week.

The December replace would make OpenAI a latecomer to a market the place rivals are already beginning to embrace grownup content material.

Elon Musk’s xAI has positioned its Grok chatbot as probably the most uncensored choice out there among the many prime corporations, with minimal content material restrictions in comparison with different main AI corporations. Grok even gives “waifu companions” with more and more not-safe-for-work interactions the extra time you spend with them. Character.AI, regardless of dealing with lawsuits over teen security, has lengthy allowed romantic and flirtatious interactions with AI characters.

For customers particularly in search of to generate erotica, open-source fashions stay the most suitable choice. Fashions like Llama and numerous uncensored variants out there via platforms like Hugging Face provide unrestricted content material era that runs domestically on consumer {hardware}, avoiding company content material insurance policies fully. These instruments have constructed devoted communities of customers creating grownup fiction and role-playing situations with out platform oversight.

That stated, OpenAI’s entry into this area may shift that dynamic. ChatGPT’s underlying fashions symbolize state-of-the-art language era, with capabilities that usually surpass open-source alternate options in coherence, creativity, and following complicated directions. For customers who need each high-quality output and grownup content material, December’s coverage change would remove the necessity to decide on between the 2.

Altman framed the content material coverage leisure as a part of that very same security effort. By separating grownup and teenage experiences via age verification, OpenAI believes it may provide extra freedom to adults whereas defending susceptible youthful customers. Inside weeks, the corporate will even launch persona customization choices, permitting customers to make ChatGPT extra conversational and human-like.

OpenAI didn’t reply to a request for remark from Decrypt.