As if in response to the news that xAI has seemingly loosened content moderation on NSFW generation, Sam Altman has stated that OpenAI will allow erotica for verified adults starting from this December. Few details are yet available – the announcement came at the bottom of a post Altman made on X.com, in which he starts by declaring victory over the problem of ensuring that his chatbots do not negatively affect the mental health of users, whilst avoiding stripping them of their personality through guardrails (this had been something that millions of users had been up in arms about). He then promises that ChatGPT will become more human-like over the next few weeks, before making the brief announcement regarding erotica.
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.
The announcement comes not only in the light of the success that xAI is enjoying with a liberal NSFW policy, but also amid widespread fears of an ‘AI bubble’, with pressure mounting on Sam Altman to deliver ever greater revenue to justify the extraordinary amount of AI infrastructure spending. OpenAI has committed to spending one trillion dollars over the next decade, but currently only brings in $13 billion in revenue. According to a Financial Times report, Altman has drawn up a five year business plan to meet their insane spending pledges, including shopping tools, video services, and consumer hardware. It would appear that erotica is firmly part of that plan. Elon Musk himself recently acknowledged the widely held belief that VHS won out over rival home video format Betamax because it was more tolerant of porn. Sam Altman is likely of the same opinion.
Whilst this news is to be welcomed by sex tech fans, a fear is that it will almost certainly result in even greater government regulation of AI porn and AI companions. Only this week, California governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 243 which mandates all AI companies based in the state to ensure that their chatbots regularly remind users that they are simply an AI rather than a real person. A war is being waged upon AI girlfriends and a looming flood of sex robots by feminist campaigners who fear that the technology will replace women. With OpenAI entering the fray, including allowing its stunning Sora video generation to be used for ‘erotica’, it’s a war that is only going to intensify further over the next decade. But with a trillion dollars at stake, at least sex tech has some powerful backers now.
