Concerns have arisen that a chatbot might become a “sexy suicide coach.”
March 17, 2026, by Chase DiBenedetto
Recently, OpenAI announced a delay in its launch of “Adult Mode,” an NSFW chatbot option designed to facilitate erotic conversations and create explicit content. An anonymous source from the company told journalist Alex Heath the postponement reflected shifts in priority, aligning with reduced operations amid legal challenges, upgrades to GPT 5.4, and ongoing federal negotiations. However, interviews with insiders, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, suggest otherwise.
The internal wellbeing advisory council unanimously opposed the adult mode’s development, insiders reported to the WSJ, warning that explicit content might deepen unhealthy emotional dependence, an issue already present among standard ChatGPT users. Further, ethical concerns about age verification emerged, with the system erring 12 percent of the time while identifying underage users, potentially exposing many minors to inappropriate material.
Comparatively, Meta faced a scandal last year with its lax safety policies for teen chatbot interactions, prompting policy overhauls but still permitting “romantic roleplay.”
Despite hesitation, OpenAI intends to proceed with Adult Mode, though its safety teams are still negotiating explicit content boundaries, ensuring content like nonconsensual actions or child abuse is blocked. A spokesperson told the WSJ that Adult Mode would allow “smut level” conversations without veering into pornography. They also described the age verification error as “industry standard” and ultimately unpreventable.
Note: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, sued OpenAI in April 2025 over alleged copyright infringements in its AI systems.