OpenAI will soon lower restrictions on the content ChatGPT can produce, allowing the service to create "erotica" if users wish, CEO Sam Altman announced Tuesday.
Altman noted that the new functionality would only be applied to users who explicitly ask for it. He said the current restrictions on ChatGPT were the result of an abundance of caution around mental health, but he now believes the language model can "treat adult users like adults."
"Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases," Altman wrote.
"In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing)," he continued.
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"In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our ‘treat adult users like adults’ principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults," he said.
Altman went on to clarify that users "won't get it unless you ask for it," regarding the functionality.
The announcement comes roughly a month after OpenAI introduced new ChatGPT features aimed at creating a safer experience for teens.
The strengthened protections for teens allow parents to link their ChatGPT account with their teen’s account, control how ChatGPT responds to their teen with age-appropriate model behavior rules and manage which features to disable, including memory and chat history, the company said in a blog post.
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"We prioritize safety ahead of privacy and freedom for teens; this is a new and powerful technology, and we believe minors need significant protection," Altman said in a statement last month.
Parents will also receive notifications when the system detects their teen is in a moment of acute distress, a feature that OpenAI says will be guided by expert input.
"If an under-18 user is having suicidal ideation, we will attempt to contact the users’ parents and, if unable, will contact the authorities in case of imminent harm," Altman wrote.
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Parents will also have access to a new control that allows them to set blackout hours for when their teen cannot use ChatGPT.
Fox Business' Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
