OpenAI plans to enable a wider range of content on its popular chatbot ChatGPT, including erotic content.
The idea is for the app to "treat adult users like adults," says Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.
The next versions of the popular chatbot will be able to behave "more like humans, but only if the user wants it, not because we want to increase usage," he wrote in a post on the X platform. on Tuesday, October 16th.
The move, which is reminiscent of the introduction of two sexually explicit chatbots on the Grok platform, could help OpenAI attract more subscribers.
At the same time, it is expected to increase pressure on lawmakers to impose stricter restrictions on chatbot interlocutors.
OpenAI did not respond to questions from BBC reporters following Sam Altman's announcement.
The changes announced by the company came after the parents of an American teenager who committed suicide filed a lawsuit against OpenAI earlier this year.
Matt and Maria Raine, parents of sixteen-year-old Adam Raine, sued the company, which was the first such case.
A California couple criticized the parental controls the company introduced, ostensibly to encourage healthier use of the chatbot, and claimed they were not strict enough.
The family also included clips of conversations between Adam, who passed away in April, and ChatGPT, in which the boy talks about his own suicidal thoughts.
Altman said OpenAI had previously made ChatGPT "pretty restrictive" to ensure it was treading carefully around mental health issues.
"We realize this made the tool less useful and fun for many users who don't have mental health issues, but given the seriousness of the topic, we wanted to do the right thing," Altman explained.
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The company has managed to mitigate serious mental health risks and has new tools that allow it to "safely ease restrictions in most cases," he added.
"In December, as we fully implement the age verification system and in line with the 'treat adults as adults' principle, we will allow even more, including erotic content, for verified adult users," he said.
This decision requires stricter control at the federal and state levels, say critics of artificial intelligence.
"How will they ensure that children don't have access to the adult-oriented and sexually explicit parts of ChatGPT?" says Jenny Kim, a partner at the law firm. Boies Schiller Flexner.
"OpenAI, like most big tech companies in this field, uses humans as guinea pigs," he adds.
Kim is also involved in a lawsuit against Meta, which claims that Instagram's algorithm is negatively affecting the mental health of teenagers.
"We still don't even know if their age verification system will work," she added.
OpenAI allows accounts registered as minors to generate explicit erotic content, research shows TechCrunch in April.
The company said at the time that it was working on a fix to limit such content.
A survey released this month by the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) found that one in five students says they or someone they know has had a "romantic relationship" with artificial intelligence.
On Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill banning companies from offering AI chatbots to children unless they can guarantee that the software will not encourage harmful behavior.
"It is crucial that adolescents learn how to safely interact with AI systems," Newsom said.
At the federal level, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an investigation into how AI chatbots communicate with children.
The US Senate introduced legislation last month that would classify AI chatbots as products, allowing users to file lawsuits for damages against their makers.
Altman's announcement comes as skeptics question the rapid rise in the value of AI companies.
OpenAI's revenue is growing, but the company is not yet profitable.
The largest AI companies are in a battle for market share, Rob Lalka, a professor of business studies at Tulane University, tells the BBC.
“No company in history has experienced such an adoption rate as OpenAI with ChatGPT.
"They had to keep pushing along that exponential growth curve to further solidify their dominance in the market," he explains.
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