Sam Altman announces ChatGPT will soon allow erotic chats for verified adults

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the company will soon relax some of ChatGPT’s safety restrictions. The update will let users make the chatbot’s responses more natural and “human-like,” and allow “verified adults” to engage in erotic conversations.

“We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realise this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right,” said Altman. “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 introduction of erotica in ChatGPT represents uncharted territory for OpenAI and raises concerns about how vulnerable users might interact with these new features. While Altman insists OpenAI isn’t “usage-maxxing” or optimising for engagement, enabling erotic content could naturally attract more users.

We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have…

— Sam Altman (@sama) October 14, 2025

While adults engage in romantic relationships with AI chatbots, the trend is increasingly popular among minors as well. Quoting a report from the Center for Democracy and Technology, Tech Crunch found that 19% of high school students have either had a romantic relationship with an AI chatbot or know someone who has.

Altman says OpenAI will soon allow erotica for “verified adults.” An OpenAI spokesperson told the publication that the company will rely on its age-prediction system to ensure these features are restricted to adult users.

As Altman previously noted in a blog post, if the age-prediction system mistakenly flags an adult as a minor, ChatGPT users may need to upload a government-issued ID to correct it. While acknowledging this is a privacy compromise, Altman calls it a “worthy tradeoff.”

It remains unclear whether erotica will extend to OpenAI’s AI voice, image, or video generation tools.

Altman also frames these changes under OpenAI’s “treat adult users like adults” principle. Over the past year, the company has adopted a more permissive content moderation strategy for ChatGPT, making the chatbot friendlier and more flexible. In February, OpenAI pledged to represent a broader range of political viewpoints in ChatGPT, and in March, it updated the platform to allow AI-generated images of hate symbols.

These policies appear aimed at increasing ChatGPT’s appeal to a wider audience. However, vulnerable users may still require safeguards that limit the chatbot’s interactions. 

The company launched GPT-5 in August, an upgraded model with reduced sycophancy and a router designed to detect potentially concerning user behavior. A month later, OpenAI rolled out additional safety measures for minors, including an age-prediction system and parental controls for teen accounts. A few days back, the company also announced the creation of an advisory council of mental health experts to guide its efforts in AI well-being.