OpenAI announced a significant reversal of its long-standing content policy this week, confirming that its popular generative artificial intelligence platform, ChatGPT, will allow verified adult users to generate erotic and other mature content beginning in December 2025.
The pivot coincides with the company’s planned deployment of a comprehensive age verification and “age-gating” system, designed to create a two-tiered experience for its vast user base while adhering to heightened safety protocols.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed the impending change in a post on X (formerly Twitter), framing the decision as an effort to enhance user freedom. Altman stated the move aligns with the company’s guiding principle to “treat adult users like adults,” adding that the new age restrictions “will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.”
The policy relaxation follows months of internal review and user feedback suggesting that the platform’s previously stringent content filters, intended primarily to prevent mental health risks and protect minors, made the chatbot overly constrained.
Altman acknowledged the restrictive nature of the earlier approach, noting, “We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems…” He argued that new safety tools have enabled the company to “safely relax the restrictions in most cases” after mitigating the most serious mental health issues.
The age verification effort is critical to the rollout. OpenAI has been developing behavior-based age prediction technology, and it previously launched a dedicated, restricted ChatGPT experience for users under 18 in September. This new, more robust age-gating system aims to ensure that only authenticated adults can opt into the mature content settings.
The announcement positions OpenAI more directly in competition with other AI companionship platforms, such as Elon Musk’s Grok, which have already explored more expressive and flirtatious conversational styles.
