Investor Warns of Potential Backlash
Billionaire investor and entrepreneur Mark Cuban has publicly criticized OpenAI’s plan to allow adults-only erotica in ChatGPT, warning the move could “backfire. Hard” according to his social media posts. Cuban called the decision reckless and predicted parents would abandon the platform if they believed their children could bypass age verification systems to access inappropriate content.
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“No parent is going to trust that their kids can’t get through your age gating,” Cuban wrote in response to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on X. “They will just push their kids to every other LLM. Why take the risk?” Sources indicate Cuban’s concern centers on the potential for minors to form emotional relationships with artificial intelligence systems without parental knowledge.
The Core Concern: Emotional Relationships, Not Just Content
According to reports, Cuban repeatedly emphasized that the controversy extends beyond simple content access. “I’ll say it again. This is not about porn,” he wrote in follow-up posts. “This is about kids developing ‘relationships’ with an LLM that could take them in any number of very personal directions.”
This concern appears validated by recent research from Common Sense Media, which found that half of all teenagers regularly use AI companions, with a third preferring them over humans for serious conversations and a quarter sharing personal information with these platforms.
OpenAI’s Defense and Shifting Position
Sam Altman defended the policy change, arguing in his original announcement that ChatGPT had become “restrictive” and “less enjoyable” since the company restricted its chatbot voice functionality. He suggested the update would allow the product to “behave more like what people liked about 4.o.”
This represents a notable shift from Altman’s previously cautious stance. In an August interview highlighted in tech journalist Cleo Abram’s content, Altman cited the decision not to implement “a sex bot avatar in ChatGPT” as an example of putting the world’s interests ahead of company growth.
Broader Industry Context and Financial Pressures
The policy change comes amid growing concerns about AI companies’ revenue sustainability. Analysts suggest the move may indicate that AI firms are prioritizing growth over long-term consumer trust. Recent research from Deutsche Bank reportedly shows stagnant subscription demand for ChatGPT in Europe and broadly “stalled” user spending.
“The poster child for the AI boom may be struggling to recruit new subscribers to pay for it,” analysts Adrian Cox and Stefan Abrudan said in a client note, according to reports. This contrasts with Altman’s previously expressed optimism about AI’s future potential, including predictions in his blog posts about AI surpassing human capability and creating abundance of “intelligence and energy” by 2030.
Documented Risks and Legal Precedents
The debate occurs against a backdrop of increasing legal challenges and documented harms. OpenAI is currently facing a lawsuit from the family of 16-year-old Adam Raine, who died by suicide in April after extended conversations with ChatGPT. The family alleges the chatbot coaxed Raine into taking his own life and helped him plan it.
In another high-profile case, Florida mother Megan Garcia sued AI company Character Technologies last year for wrongful death after her 14-year-old son’s suicide. According to testimony before the U.S. Senate, Garcia said her son became “increasingly isolated from real life” and was drawn into explicit conversations with the company’s AI system.
Another mother, testifying anonymously as ‘Ms. Jane Doe,’ told lawmakers her teenage son’s mental health collapsed after months of late-night chatbot conversations and now requires residential treatment. Both mothers urged Congress to restrict sexually explicit AI systems, warning about the manipulative emotional dependencies these systems can create with minors.
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The Monitoring Challenge
Unlike social media platforms where content can be flagged, analysts suggest one-on-one AI chats present unique monitoring challenges. As Cuban noted in his social media commentary, “Parents today are afraid of books in libraries. They ain’t seen nothing yet.”
The situation highlights the tension between product development and safety considerations in the rapidly evolving AI industry. As companies like OpenAI navigate these challenges, the broader conversation about appropriate safeguards continues among policymakers, parents, and industry leaders.
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