OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reacted to a flood of criticism and ridicule online about planned modifications to ChatGPT that were soon labelled an adult model.
The scandal broke out when Altman talked about a change in policy aimed at providing more freedom to adults at the expense of stricter rules to younger users.
OpenAI CEO Clarifies Erotica Controversy
Much of the backlash focused on one mention of the word erotica, a fact which, Altman himself admits, was not his intention to attract that level of attention.
The Twitter post concerning future modifications of ChatGPT has gone viral on the erotica aspect, far more than I originally expected. Altman posted on X.
He clarified that the original announcement was only intended to be an example of us giving adults more freedom to use, and gave an attempt to explain it in a more understandable way.
Altman expounded on this and said that the company aims to focus more on the security of younger users and that OpenAI would still prioritize safety over privacy and freedom among teenagers. This, he observed, is based on the perception by the company that the minor should be highly safeguarded since it has a new and powerful technology.
He also highlighted the main ideal behind the change, which stated that the company is concerned about the principle to treat adult users as adults. Altman had already recognized that OpenAI had stricter current rules of content that made ChatGPT less useful/enjoyable to many people.
OpenAI Faces Backlash After Erotica Mention in ChatGPT Policy
The scope and timeline of the change were also mentioned by the CEO: in December, when we will age-gate the site more comprehensively and in line with our principle of treating adult users as adults, we will permit even more, such as erotica with verified adult users.
Altman clarified that these new freedoms would not be applicable across the board and that OpenAI would not handle users suffering a mental health crisis the same as it does not users who are not. He also emphasized that the company did not plan to alter its rigid policies on mental health.
In another message, Altman dismissed the idea that OpenAI is an ethical judge that can dictate what people should do on their own. He said we are not the appointed moral police of the world, in comparing the tiered system of OpenAI with the established social systems.
Similarly to the manner in which the society distinguishes other acceptable boundaries (R-rated movies, etc.), we would like to do something like that here as well. The company will increase the restrictions of minors and provide more freedom to verified adults under controlled conditions.
