Starting in December, OpenAI will allow adults to use ChatGPT for erotica

OpenAI has announced changes to its ChatGPT service that will take effect in December of this year. According to the company's CEO Sam Altman, the service will allow adult users to use the chatbot for erotic scenarios.

"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," said Sam Altman.

In September, the company introduced a system of parental controls and automatic age determination. According to Altman, this allowed to clearly separate minors from adults and create conditions for expanding functionality.

Engadget writes that some users have already tried to circumvent the restrictions by using ChatGPT for private conversations (NSFW). Now the company actually recognizes such scenarios as acceptable, but only for verified adults.

A similar approach was also announced during DevDay 2025, where OpenAI announced third-party app integration into ChatGPT. At that time, the company informed developers that support for adult (18+) apps in the chatbot would be available after age verification and moderation were implemented.

The changes come amid criticism of OpenAI over the impact of ChatGPT on users' mental health. For example, we wrote about an incident where an American teenager had conversations with ChatGPT about how best to end his life. Ultimately, the story ended tragically and the boy's parents filed a lawsuit against OpenAI.

Another case involved a man from the US who had a mental disorder and used ChatGPT to confirm his paranoid thoughts. His conversations with the chatbot led to the murder of his mother and suicide.

Following these and similar incidents, Sam Altman wrote in a post that the company intentionally made ChatGPT more restrictive to responsibly address mental health topics. He said the company understands that this may have made the model less useful or enjoyable for users who do not have mental health issues, but it was necessary for safety.

He added that now that "serious mental health concerns" have been mitigated and new safeguards have been put in place, OpenAI will be able to safely ease restrictions in most cases.

The company is expected to successfully combine age restrictions and new features that will allow adult users to use the service more freely, while maintaining protection for minors.