Read More《放开成人内容，OpenAI是为了提升性能?》
Positive Comments: An Inevitable Choice Driven by Technological Breakthroughs and Commercialization
OpenAI’s announcement to open up the function of generating adult content may seem like “pornography” on the surface, but in fact, it is a strategic choice under the pressure of technological breakthroughs and commercialization. Its positive significance deserves in – depth discussion.
From a technical perspective, this decision directly addresses the core pain point of the “alignment tax” in large – model training. The essence of large language models is to learn the language distribution of the real world, and content related to sex, emotion, and the body accounts for a considerable proportion in real – world language. During the development of DALL·E 2, OpenAI found that excessive filtering of specific content would lead to “holes” in the training data – the model’s word embedding space would be distorted, making it unable to accurately understand relevant contexts and even affecting its performance in legal scenarios such as literary creation and medical consultation. For example, when a user hopes that the AI analyzes the emotional descriptions in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, if the model avoids “sex” – related words due to the “alignment tax”, its interpretation ability will be greatly reduced. Opening up adult content this time essentially restores the integrity of the training data and reduces the loss of model performance caused by artificial intervention. As mentioned in the news, users may clearly feel the “humanization” improvement of ChatGPT in scenarios such as creative writing and emotional dialogue in the future, which is a direct benefit at the technical level.
From a commercial perspective, the high growth and high stickiness of the adult content market provide OpenAI with a much – needed revenue growth point. Currently, OpenAI is facing huge losses (with a projected net loss of $13.5 billion in 2025). Although ChatGPT has 700 million weekly active users, its paid conversion rate is less than 3%. In contrast, AI platforms focusing on adult content (such as Grok and Character AI) show amazing growth potential: Grok’s mobile – end revenue in the third quarter increased by 400% quarter – on – quarter, and Character AI is expected to have an annual revenue of $50 million by the end of 2025, with users spending an average of 75 minutes per day on the platform, far exceeding that of mainstream short – video platforms. More importantly, the cost of AI – generated adult content is extremely low (users only need to input prompts to quickly customize content), and it can accurately meet personalized needs, rapidly seizing market share from traditional adult industries (such as OnlyFans) – ARK data shows that adult AI websites have taken 14.5% of the traffic from traditional platforms. For OpenAI, opening up adult content can not only improve the paid conversion rate but also enter the AI companion market, which is expected to exceed $140 billion in 2030. This is a key measure to relieve commercial pressure.
From the perspective of user demand, this decision responds to the market’s real expectation for “humanized AI”. The explosion of AI companion products (such as Grok’s Ani and 350,000 unique characters on Janitor AI) has proven that users’ demand for emotional companionship and personalized interaction far exceeds “instrumental” use. OpenAI was previously criticized by users for being “stereotypically preachy” due to excessive “political correctness”. After opening up adult content, the model will be closer to real – human expression, and user stickiness is expected to increase significantly. For example, when users discuss emotional confusion with the AI, the model will no longer mechanically avoid the topic but can empathize more naturally, which will enhance users’ dependence on the product.
Negative Comments: Regulatory Risks, Moral Controversies, and Long – term Ecological Hidden Dangers
Although OpenAI’s decision has technical and commercial rationality, its potential risks cannot be ignored – from legal compliance to moral controversies, from user safety to the industry ecosystem, every step may come at a high price, like opening a “Pandora’s box”.
First and foremost are the complex regulatory and legal risks. Globally, the legal definitions of adult content vary greatly, and OpenAI needs to face multiple challenges: The EU’s AI Act classifies adult – content AI as a high – risk area, requiring strict transparency, human supervision, and accident reporting. Violations can result in fines of up to 4% of global annual revenue (which could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars for OpenAI); state laws in the United States are even stricter. Texas and Utah require adult websites to implement mandatory age verification, and California is promoting the Age – Appropriate Design Code Act to block content for minors by default. More seriously, virtual child pornography is a felony under US federal law (possession of AI – generated child – porn images can result in a 20 – year prison sentence). Even if OpenAI takes preventive measures, it may still face joint liability if its system is misused to generate such content. The news about OpenAI’s “previous record” (a California couple sued ChatGPT in 2025 for causing their son’s suicide) has warned that once adult content causes harm to users (such as minors’ access and psychological dependence), the legal lawsuits and brand – reputation losses will be immeasurable.
Secondly, there are moral controversies and potential damage to the brand image. As a benchmark in the AI industry, OpenAI has long presented itself as “safe and responsible”. Opening up adult content may shake public trust. For example, parents may worry that minors will access inappropriate content through technical loopholes (such as false age verification); users in religious or conservative cultural regions may abandon the product due to its “vulgarization”. More profoundly, the “boundless” nature of AI – generated adult content may blur the ethical boundaries between reality and virtuality – Will users’ “emotional dependence” on AI companions affect real – world relationships? Will AI – generated “perfect” adult content exacerbate anxiety about real bodies? There are no clear answers to these questions, but they have already raised widespread concerns among ethicists.
Finally, there is uncertainty in the long – term ecosystem. If OpenAI loosens restrictions on adult content, it may trigger a “race to the bottom” in the industry – other AI manufacturers may further relax content restrictions to compete for users, leading to the proliferation of adult content and squeezing the development space of “positive” AI applications such as education and healthcare. For example, current platforms like Janitor AI already use adult content as their core selling point. If leading players follow suit, industry resources may tilt towards areas with “quick traffic monetization”, weakening investment in AI in scientific research, environmental protection, and other fields. In addition, the “low – threshold generation” of adult content may exacerbate content abuse (such as deepfakes and online violence), and the reliability of existing technologies (such as age verification) is questionable (age verification on platforms like Steam is ineffective). Whether OpenAI can effectively prevent abuse remains unknown.
Advice for Entrepreneurs
OpenAI’s decision provides an important reference for the AI industry. Entrepreneurs need to find a balance between technological innovation and risk management, which can be achieved from the following aspects:
Respect the law and compliance, and establish a “dynamic risk assessment” mechanism: Adult content involves complex laws around the world (such as the EU’s AI Act and age – verification requirements in US states). Entrepreneurs need to form a professional compliance team to study the legal boundaries of the target market in advance. For example, when operating in the EU, they need to ensure that adult – content AI meets the transparency and human – supervision requirements for high – risk areas; in the United States, they need to connect to government – certified age – verification systems (such as uploading ID cards or credit – card information) instead of relying on users’ self – reported ages. At the same time, they need to dynamically track legal changes (such as the progress of California’s Age – Appropriate Design Code Act) and adjust product strategies in a timely manner.
Emphasize both technological means and user education to prevent minors from accessing content: Age verification is the core pain point. Entrepreneurs can explore multi – dimensional technological solutions (such as biometric identification and connection to government databases) to improve verification accuracy. At the same time, they can set up functions such as “secondary confirmation” and “parent – monitoring mode”. In addition, they need to strengthen user education, clearly mark content ratings (such as “18+” labels), and inform users of their responsibility boundaries (such as the prohibition of generating child pornography) through pop – up prompts and usage agreements.
Balance commercialization and social responsibility to avoid “single – content dependence”: Although adult content can be quickly monetized, over – reliance may damage the long – term value of the brand. Entrepreneurs should explore diversified revenue models (such as paid functions and enterprise services) and increase investment in “positive scenarios” (such as mental – health counseling and educational companionship) to enhance the social value of the product. For example, AI companion products can add functions such as “learning mode” and “career – planning assistant” to prevent users from only regarding them as “adult – content tools”.
Pay attention to technological ethics and establish “red lines for content generation”: Even when opening up adult content, clear ethical red lines need to be set (such as prohibiting the generation of violent and insulting content and adult content imitating real people). A dual – mechanism of AI review models + manual review can be used to monitor users’ input prompts and generated content in real – time. Once a violation is found, the process should be immediately blocked and recorded.
Stratify user needs and provide “optional opening”: According to different user preferences, “content – openness” options (such as “basic mode” and “mature mode”) can be designed to allow users to choose whether to enable the adult – content function. This can not only meet the needs of some users but also reduce interference to sensitive users and lower the risk of brand controversy.
OpenAI’s decision to “open the box” is both an inevitable result of technological progress and a compromise under commercial pressure. For entrepreneurs, the key is to seize market opportunities while maintaining the bottom lines of law and ethics – after all, truly sustainable AI innovation is never about “traffic first” but about the symbiosis of technological value and social value.
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