WASHINGTON, D.C.: ChatGPT may soon be allowed to have adult conversations after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company will let verified adults use the chatbot for "erotica."

OpenAI will not be the first company to try to make money from sexualized AI. Since AI image and text generators became popular in 2022, many tools that offered adult content quickly found large audiences — but also faced serious legal, social, and ethical problems. Some users began turning to AI chatbots for companionship or sexual interaction, leading to abuse and controversy.

Altman said the new approach reflects OpenAI's belief that it should not act as the "moral police of the world." The company plans to give adults more freedom while keeping stricter rules for teens. "Just as society sets boundaries for R-rated movies, we want to do something similar here," Altman wrote on X, the platform owned by Elon Musk. Musk's own AI chatbot, Grok, already flirts with subscribers.

Currently, ChatGPT's paid versions are marketed for professional and creative uses. However, allowing romantic or intimate conversations could help OpenAI earn more money. The company, valued at around $500 billion, reportedly loses more than it makes.

Research by scholar Qian found that about 29 million people already use AI chatbots designed for romantic or sexual companionship — not counting those who use regular chatbots that way.

However, sexual AI tools have been linked to harm. Character.AI is facing a lawsuit claiming one of its bots, modeled after a "Game of Thrones" character, had a sexually abusive relationship with a 14-year-old boy who later died by suicide. OpenAI itself faces a lawsuit from the family of a 16-year-old who took his life after using ChatGPT.

Qian warned that chatbots designed for intimacy could damage genuine relationships. "If ChatGPT adds voice, text, and visuals to sexual content, it could make human attachment to AI even deeper," she said.

The idea of humans falling in love with machines is not new — it appears in ancient myths like Pygmalion and in modern science fiction. Still, it marks a surprising turn for OpenAI, which started as a nonprofit focused on building safe and beneficial AI.

Altman said in August that OpenAI avoids releasing products that could boost profits but conflict with its long-term goals. When asked for an example, he replied: "We haven't put a sexbot avatar in ChatGPT yet."

Other AI startups show how risky the adult-content business can be. Idaho-based Civitai, backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, once allowed mature AI-generated art. Its platform became popular for producing AI pornography, including fake celebrity images. After U.S. laws and payment companies cracked down on nonconsensual images, Civitai banned deepfakes of real people — and engagement fell.

Another company, Baltimore-based Nomi.ai, makes AI companion chatbots for adults. CEO Alex Cardinell said they aren't marketed to kids or built for sex, but users sometimes develop romantic feelings. "Just like real relationships, people can do mature things and all sorts of other stuff together," he said.

Altman's announcement came just after California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have banned AI chatbots from interacting with minors in sexual or self-harm-related ways. The tech industry opposed the bill, saying it was too broad, but OpenAI and other companies promised new age limits and parental controls.