OpenAI won’t be releasing its controversial “adult mode” erotica chatbot after all — at least for the time being.
The ChatGPT maker has shelved plans to roll out the feature “indefinitely” after investors and advisers raised concerns about exposing minors to explicit content, according to the Financial Times.
Executives pulled the plug after acknowledging they lack “empirical evidence” on the long-term effects of sexualized AI interactions, the report said.
Instead of releasing it this year as planned, OpenAI will gather research about potential mental health impacts of erotic chatbots, the FT reported.
A recent study by Stanford researchers found that AI chatbots were fueling delusions and unhealthy emotional attachments with users — at times stoking thoughts of violence, self-harm and suicide.
The researchers found delusional thinking appeared in about 15.5% of user messages, while chatbots showed overly affirming behavior in more than 80% of responses and encouraged violent thoughts in roughly a third of cases.
The potential pitfalls of “adult mode” prompted top executives at OpenAI to mull scrapping the feature altogether amid concerns it could foster unhealthy emotional attachments to the chatbot, sources told the FT.
The Post has sought comment from OpenAI.
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI was delaying the rollout of its “adult mode” chatbot after fierce pushback from advisers who warned of potential risks to users.
Mental health experts who were advising OpenAI expressed worry that sexualized bots could turn into a “sexy suicide coach” for users, the Journal reported.
The retreat from “adult mode” is just the latest sign of OpenAI pulling back from controversial products as it grapples with mounting safety concerns and public backlash.
The company said it is winding down its Sora video-generating app after it sparked backlash over deepfakes and nonconsensual imagery.
OpenAI released Sora in September in hopes of competing with other short-form video apps including TikTok, YouTube and Meta-owned Instagram.
But the company was soon forced to scramble due to an outcry over videos that showed prominent figures such as Michael Jackson and Martin Luther King Jr. doing outlandish things.
Disney, which made a deal with OpenAI last year to bring its characters to Sora, said in a statement Tuesday that it respects “OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere.”
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