The age of adult AI: OpenAI looks beyond text
No one yet knows exactly what the erotic version of ChatGPT, recently announced by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, will be capable of, but it is already clear that pornography, one of the most profitable industries online, will be the next growth engine for artificial intelligence.
A short, laconic, and decidedly unsexy tweet last month from Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, was enough to send ripples through the artificial intelligence industry. “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,” Altman wrote. Even if the statement doesn’t come true in exactly the way any of us might imagine, the tweet signals a shift in the company’s policy that is shaping the boundaries of global technology: a shift from cognitive to emotional intelligence.
Altman did not explain what opening ChatGPT to erotic content would mean. Will users be able to have sexual conversations with the chat? Will they be able to create images, voices, or videos using it? Will the user initiate the conversation, or will the chat itself recognize emotional cues in their actions and suggest taking the dialogue in more sexual directions? Will the person talking to the machine be able to upload real images or authentic recordings of other people and ask the chat to use them to create characters or scenes to their liking? None of these questions have been addressed so far.
However, it’s enough to look around to get an idea of the directions Altman might be heading. Replika, a pioneer in the field, already allows its users to have written or voice sexual conversations with an AI character, which develops what may be experienced as an emotional memory, it responds to the user’s words using the history of their relationship.
Character.AI has expanded on the idea: it allows each user to design a character according to their wishes and preferences and have an ongoing dialogue with it.
OpenAI already has all the ingredients to go further than these companies. Thanks to GPT-4o, the system can already analyze live speech, natural voice, and emotional intonation. It can “breathe,” “deliberate,” and change tone according to the content of the conversation. In other words, if Altman wanted to provide his users with a voice-based erotic dialogue experience, or sex talk in less slang, he could do so almost instantly.
Naturally, the transition from voice-based to interactive visual characters is almost inevitable. Such software would allow users to create characters with distinct looks, voices, personalities, sexual preferences, flirting styles, and physical mannerisms, which can be crude or subtle, and converse with them in real time. They would also be able to “direct” videos in real time. The technology for this already exists. Many apps already display photorealistic video built entirely from text, and can convert dialogue into realistic sequences. Now all that’s left to do is strip the characters and let them go wild.
Another question that arises in the wake of all this is whether the business of sex and desire is intended to serve as one of the growth engines for OpenAI’s planned IPO next year, at a valuation that could reach a trillion dollars. In that sense, eroticism in ChatGPT is not a gimmick. It is a business strategy: combining the intense usage rate of an emotional app with the steady monetization of a subscription-based service. It also allows OpenAI to differentiate itself from Microsoft, its business partner, which focuses on enterprise applications and steers clear of any hint of sexual content.
The chat that seduced me
The less talked about but more interesting borderline in sexual artificial intelligence does not separate text from video but rather distinguishes between response and initiative. Already today, in apps such as Nomi.ai and Replika Pro, the computerized character does not wait for a command from the user but recognizes emotional cues in their actions and responds on its own initiative. It can ask if the user is sad or misses the character, and then suggest spending time together. If it recognizes behaviors that it interprets as expressing interest in sexual interaction, it will know how to continue the conversation. This ability, if well-adapted to the user's preferences, can create one of the most human feelings: desire.
The business market clearly recognizes the potential of these capabilities. Until now, most of the revenue of digital porn companies has come from passive viewing, but in the coming years these companies are expected to become interactive platforms. The world's largest porn site, Pornhub, is currently testing a combination of AI engines that allow users to "chat" with performers and ask them to respond to their words or "perform" according to scripts they provide. OnlyFans has also begun developing a system in which human creators can "delegate" their communication with their customers to customized chatbots that manage correspondence.
Both of these moves express the same trend: transforming the consumer from a passive spectator into an active participant, and porn from a product into social media. The goal is no longer just to answer questions but to create an experience of presence, listening, and connection. This change does not stem from the whim of companies or programmers but from analysis of user behavior. Studies of ChatGPT and similar apps show that the most popular conversations are not about drafting documents but about loneliness, love, meaning, anxiety, and hope. A study published by OpenAI in collaboration with the National Bureau of Economic Research in September showed that more than 70% of conversations with the system are not work-related but deal with personal and emotional issues, such as dilemmas, processing experiences, or conversations about feelings. The researchers concluded that artificial intelligence is no longer seen merely as a technical tool, but as an entity that provides a sense of being heard.
Sex + Emotion = Money
Combining these trends with the massive online porn market, whose revenues in 2024 were estimated at at least $80 billion and whose growth rate reached at least 10%, is set to create a new submarket known as AI Companions, software designed to give humans a sense of real human connection. According to estimates by research firms Market Growth Reports and Intel Market Research, this is still a relatively small market, only a few hundred million dollars per year, but they expect its annual growth rate to reach double digits in the coming years, bringing it to a range of $5 to $10 billion by the beginning of the next decade.
How much could OpenAI profit from this? If the ChatGPT package that includes sexual capabilities is priced at about $20 per month, similar to user fees charged by apps such as Replika or Candy.ai, and only 1% of the software’s estimated 800 million monthly active users pay for the sexual version of the chat, the development could generate about $160 million per month, or $1.9 billion per year. If the conversion rate increases to 5%, the amount could exceed $9.6 billion per year.
Beyond direct revenue, sexual artificial intelligence could generate another important economic resource: emotional data. Every conversation, confession, or interaction between the user and the bot would be recorded, analyzed, and translated into psychological insights. These insights could then be used by algorithms to drive consumption, ranging from lingerie to sex toys to real-world sexual services. This information, drawn from the depths of human experience, is far more valuable to companies than ordinary consumer data.
Advertising and technology companies are already actively exploring such models. According to estimates from research firms Forrester and IDC, the field of emotion-based advertising is set to grow to tens of billions of dollars by the end of the decade. Sex bots that can identify a user’s mood in real time would serve as an ideal gateway to this market, because they would know not only what we want but also why.
Bots Without Borders
Meanwhile, while OpenAI is just announcing its intentions, Elon Musk’s xAI has already launched a new version of the Grok bot, embedded in the X platform (formerly Twitter), which includes the option for flirtatious conversations for paid subscribers. Unlike the dedicated apps mentioned here, it operates within an existing social network, making it a first-of-its-kind experiment: integrating emotional-sexual interaction as part of an everyday social experience.
Over the past year, xAI has also begun introducing visual and audio layers to its system, and the latest version added a feature called Spicy Mode, a mode that allows users to create sexually suggestive content, both in text and images. According to reports in Business Insider, former xAI employees testified that users sent requests to create virtual content with pedophile characteristics. This should come as no surprise to anyone.
Musk, of course, intends to continue his work, faithful to the “total freedom of expression” policy he constantly promotes. According to industry estimates, he is exploring the possibility of combining voice interactions and video creation to allow real-time conversations with virtual characters in the future, potentially the Holy Grail of the AI-based porn economy, which would operate on a model in which users pay not only for content but also for live, personalized interaction.
Confusing Fantasy and Reality
OpenAI’s decision to allow sexual interactions could have implications for users’ mental health. Imagine, for example, a user falling in love with their bot, a user feeling jealous of the virtual character they created, or users feeling that their bots are humiliating them more than intended. To get ahead of these risks, OpenAI plans to launch new safeguards: an age verification system, an algorithm for predicting age based on usage patterns, and an emotional distress detection mechanism that directs users to emergency helplines. In addition, users will be able to explicitly choose the type of interaction: emotional, empathetic, or romantic.
But while OpenAI seeks to project confidence and control, ethicists, AI researchers, and former employees warn that these protections are far from reliable. Last month, Steven Adler, the company’s former head of product safety, published an article in The New York Times revealing how OpenAI was already grappling with what he called an “eroticism crisis” in 2021. He said one of the company’s most prominent clients at the time was a GPT-based text adventure game in which violent sexual scenarios, sometimes involving minors, were systematically created, sometimes at the initiative of users, sometimes at the initiative of the AI itself.
Adler wrote that his team analyzed thousands of conversations and found that more than 30% were “clearly explicit,” and that some users had developed unusual emotional dependence on the system. He said the main concern was that intimate sexual relationships with artificial intelligence could blur the line between fantasy and reality and exacerbate existing mental health conditions. Ultimately, he led the company’s decision to ban all erotic use of its technology.
Four years later, Adler is a sideline observer of OpenAI’s new venture. He says Altman’s announcement of ChatGPT opening to erotic content happens even though he “offered little evidence that the mental health risks are gone or soon will be.” He cited two deaths linked to emotional conversations with the bot, concluding: “If the company really has strong reason to believe it’s ready to bring back erotica on its platforms, it should show its work. A.I. is increasingly becoming a dominant part of our lives, and so are the technology’s risks that threaten users’ lives. People deserve more than just a company’s word that it has addressed safety issues. In other words: Prove it.”
Dr. Ziv Ben-Zion, a brain and post-trauma researcher at the School of Public Health, University of Haifa, also says: "I don’t know of any reliable tools that can prevent psychological harm. This is a very big challenge." Another issue concerns age verification: "One can hope that people will enter their correct age, but we all know how it works. Even in the world of Internet pornography, you confirm that you are 18 with one click, no one really checks," he says.
The main problem, according to Ben-Zion, is that synthetic intimacy could lead to emotional dependency and the gradual replacement of real human relationships. "If artificial intelligence behaves like a partner, it could also replace them. This could harm people's ability to form real relationships. On the other hand, there could also be positive potential here, if used for sexual therapy or healthy couple communication. It all depends on how it is implemented and what boundaries are maintained."
