Mark Cuban warns that OpenAI’s new plan to permit adults-only erotica in ChatGPT might ‘backfire. Hard’

Cuban known as the transfer reckless and mentioned dad and mom will abandon ChatGPT the second they imagine their youngsters might bypass the corporate’s age-verification system to entry inappropriate content material.

“This is going to backfire. Hard,” Cuban wrote in response to Altman on X. “No parent is going to trust that their kids can’t get through your age gating. They will just push their kids to every other LLM. Why take the risk?”

In different phrases: If there’s any chance that minors can entry express content material—together with content material generated by AI—dad and mom and college districts will lock it out earlier than testing the security options, making it an unsavvy enterprise technique.

Altman, nonetheless, argued in his authentic put up asserting the change that ChatGPT has been “restrictive” and “less enjoyable” for the reason that firm restricted the voice of its signature chatbot in response to criticism it was resulting in psychological well being points. He added that the upcoming replace will permit a product that “behaves more like what people liked about 4o.” 

Psychological issues

Cuban emphasised repeatedly in additional posts that the controversy isn’t about adults accessing erotica. It’s about youngsters forming emotional relationships with AI with out their dad and mom’ information, and people relationships probably going sideways.

“I’ll say it again. This is not about porn,” he wrote. “This is about kids developing ‘relationships’ with an LLM that could take them in any number of very personal directions.”

Altman has, prior to now, appeared cautious of permitting sexual conversations in any respect on his platform. In an interview in August, tech journalist Cleo Abram requested Altman to provide an instance of a enterprise determination that was finest for the world on the expense of his personal firm’s ascendancy. 

“Well, we haven’t put a sex bot avatar in ChatGPT yet,” Altman mentioned.

Following the cash

The transfer comes amid mounting fears that the billions pouring into AI might not translate into sustainable income or fulfill the business’s hype-driven guarantees. Altman—regardless of himself admitting that traders could also be “overexcited” about AI—has shared in speculation that AI will quickly surpass human functionality, resulting in an abundance of “intelligence and energy” in 2030. In September, Altman shared desires in a blog post that sooner or later, AI might remedy most cancers or present custom-made tutoring to each scholar on earth. 

Yet strikes like permitting erotica in ChatGPT might sign that AI corporations are combating tougher than ever to attain development, and can sacrifice longer-term client belief for the sake of short-term revenue. Recent analysis from Deutsche Bank exhibits that buyers’ demand for OpenAI subscriptions in Europe has been flatlining, and that consumer spending on ChatGPT broadly has “stalled.”

“The poster child for the AI boom may be struggling to recruit new subscribers to pay for it,” analysts Adrian Cox and Stefan Abrudan mentioned in a notice to shoppers.

AI companionship platforms like Replika and Character.ai have already proven how shortly customers—particularly youngsters—kind emotional bonds with chatbots. A Common Sense Media report discovered that half of all youngsters use AI companions often, a 3rd have chosen AI companions over people for critical conversations, and 1 / 4 have shared private data with these platforms. With enter from Stanford researchers, the group argued that these chatbots must be unlawful for teenagers to make use of, due to the exacerbated dangers of dependancy or self-harm. 

OpenAI didn’t instantly reply to Fortune’s request for remark.

Parents urge motion

OpenAI is already below fireplace after being sued by the household of 16-year-old Adam Raine, who died by suicide in April after having prolonged conversations with ChatGPT. The household alleges that ChatGPT coaxed Raine into taking his personal life and helped him plan it. 

“This tragedy was not a glitch or unforeseen edge case—it was the predictable result of deliberate design choices,” the lawsuit acknowledged.

In one other high-profile case, Florida mom Megan Garcia sued AI firm Character Technologies final yr for wrongful loss of life, alleging that its chatbot performed a job within the suicide of her 14-year-old son, Sewell Setzer III. In testimony earlier than the U.S. Senate, Garcia mentioned her son turned “increasingly isolated from real life” and was drawn into express, sexualized conversations with the corporate’s AI system.

“Instead of preparing for high school milestones, Sewell spent the last months of his life being exploited and sexually groomed by chatbots,” Garcia testified. She accused the corporate of designing AI programs to look emotionally human “to gain his trust and keep him endlessly engaged.”

She wasn’t the one mother or father to testify. Another mom, from Texas, talking anonymously as “Ms. Jane Doe,” instructed lawmakers that her teenage son’s psychological well being collapsed after months of late-night conversations with comparable chatbots. She mentioned he’s now in residential remedy.

Both moms urged Congress to limit sexually express AI programs, warning that AI chatbots can shortly kind manipulative emotional dependencies with minors—precisely the situation Cuban says OpenAI is risking. Unlike TikTok or Instagram, the place content material will be flagged, one-on-one AI chats are non-public and troublesome to watch.

“Parents today are afraid of books in libraries,” Cuban wrote. “They ain’t seen nothing yet.”