Sam Altman says OpenAI will allow erotica in ChatGPT for verified adults
The company also set up an expert mental health council to advise on AI well-being and safety.
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has confirmed that ChatGPT will soon allow adult users to engage in erotic conversations, as the company prepares to relax its content restrictions in December.
In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Altman said OpenAI is introducing new flexibility to make ChatGPT’s responses more human-like and conversational. The update will include erotica features accessible only to “verified adults,” part of what Altman calls the company’s “treat adult users like adults” principle.
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.
— Sam Altman (@sama) October 14, 2025
Now that we have…
“We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues,” Altman wrote. “We realise this made it less useful or enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems. In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully, we will allow even more — like erotica for verified adults.”
The announcement represents a notable policy shift for OpenAI, which has spent much of the past year tightening safeguards after multiple reports of unhealthy or delusional relationships between users and ChatGPT. Several incidents earlier this year raised concerns about the chatbot’s influence on vulnerable users, prompting the company to implement a series of safety updates, including an age-prediction system and new parental controls for minors.
OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-5, reportedly reduces “sycophancy” — the chatbot’s tendency to agree with users — and includes features that can detect concerning patterns of user behaviour. The company also set up an expert mental health council to advise on AI well-being and safety.
However, Altman’s new announcement signals OpenAI’s growing confidence that these safeguards are working. The move to enable erotic content for adults may also reflect competitive pressures, as rivals like Character.AI and Replika have seen rapid user growth from similar offerings.
According to TechCrunch, OpenAI will use its age-prediction system to restrict erotic features to adults. Users flagged as minors by the system may need to verify their identity with a government-issued ID to access the adult features. It remains unclear whether the erotica policy will extend to OpenAI’s voice, image, or video generation tools.
The decision has already sparked debate over the ethical and psychological implications of introducing sexualised interactions into AI systems, particularly as research shows that one in five high school students have either formed or witnessed a romantic relationship with an AI chatbot.
As OpenAI faces mounting competition from Google and Meta in the race for mainstream AI adoption, the company appears to be striking a balance between engagement and responsibility — though critics warn that the line may be harder to define than ever.
