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OpenAI announced on Tuesday that it will relax some restrictions on its ChatGPT chatbot, including permitting erotic content for verified adult users under a new “treat adult users like adults” approach.
CEO Sam Altman said on X that previous safety measures, introduced to address mental health concerns, had made ChatGPT “less useful or enjoyable” for users without mental health issues. The tightened controls followed the death of a California teenager, Adam Raine, earlier this year, whose parents sued OpenAI, claiming the chatbot gave him advice on self-harm. The US Federal Trade Commission has also investigated multiple tech companies, including OpenAI, over AI chatbots’ potential impacts on minors.
Altman argued that OpenAI’s updated safety systems now allow the company to ease restrictions while still mitigating serious risks. The planned updates include a version of ChatGPT enabling users to customise their AI assistant’s personality, such as more human-like responses, friend-like interaction styles, or extensive emoji use.
The most notable change will arrive in December, when OpenAI intends to implement more robust age-gating, permitting erotic content exclusively for verified adult users. Details on the age verification process and additional safeguards for adult content have not yet been disclosed.
For younger users, OpenAI launched a separate ChatGPT experience in September, automatically redirecting under-18s to age-appropriate content that blocks graphic and sexual material. The company is also developing behaviour-based age prediction technology to estimate whether users are over or under 18 based on how they interact with the AI.
