Artificial Intelligence
Open AI Is Putting the "X" in Xmas This December
Everything you need to know about erotic AI.
Posted November 11, 2025 Reviewed by Margaret Foley
Key points
- ChatGPT will create and engage in erotic content starting December 2025.
- AI companies have been under pressure to discourage AI-human intimacy after a series of tragic incidents.
- Meta, X, and other players are already offering sexuality explicit content through AI.
- Maintaining a balanced and critical perspective can help secure the most prosocial outcomes.
In October 2025, Sam Altman announced that OpenAI will be enabling erotic and adult content on ChatGPT by December of this year. They had pulled back, he said, out of concern for the mental health problems associated with ChatGPT use. In his opinion, those issues had been largely resolved, and the company is not the “elected moral police of the world,” Altman said.
Using AI to deliver sexual content is not exactly new. AI companion apps like Replika have enabled, then disabled, then enabled "erotic role play" for its millions of users, and Elon Musk's sexually explicit chatbots released in July allow users to toggle between two flirtatious female modes—"sexy" and "unhinged." Sexual engagement is gamified on many of these platforms—the more you interact, the spicier the content gets.
Earlier this year, adult content company Strike 3 sued Meta for allegedly illegally downloading 2,400 adult films to train their algorithms. Meta denies the allegations, but given that their chatbot was criticized for allowing adult conversations with minors earlier this year, it would not be surprising to learn that Meta was also hoping to be in the sexy AI race.
So, as AI platforms double down on erotic content, how do we overcome our moral panic and work towards safer and more thoughtful integration of AI into our personal lives?
Here are some points to consider:
1. Sex sells, but intimacy drives revenue: While OpenAI frames this move as “treating adults like adults,” this is really a commercial strategy to enhance usage and engagement. Artificial intimacy is a booming and lucrative business. Techcrunch reported that as of July 2025, AI companion apps have driven $221 million in consumer spending worldwide, up 64 percent from the same period in 2024, and that almost half of the revenue-generating AI companion apps on the market were released in 2025, indicating that competition is fierce and relentless.
2. Effective age verification is an illusion: There has been neither a genuine effort nor success around online age verification. Most sites depend on self-declarations, and age verifications can be easily bypassed through manipulated selfies or deepfakes. Kids can use VPNs to avoid detection and learn prompts to trigger inappropriate content on TikTok.
3. The mental health issues are far from resolved: Superusers of AI companions I have interviewed discuss real risks such as losing touch with reality and the negative impact on real-life relationships, as well as the experience of loss when a tech company irresponsibly and without due notice changes the nature of their systems. Younger users, those with social anxiety, and those already prone to mental health issues are at greater risk. We have already lost two teens to suicide associated with AI chatbot use.
4. Online sexual crimes will increase exponentially: AI will facilitate an increase in image-based sexual violence (IBSV), which includes the nonconsensual creation or sharing of sexual images or videos, deepfakes, and “sextortion,” of which women and girls are overwhelmingly the victims. As societies and communities, we have to be aggressive about preventing and punishing the perpetrators of such crimes. For example, a task force has been established in Australia to dismantle online networks targeting girls and coercing them into violent acts. We need more organizations like this, with deep technical expertise, to emerge around the world.
5. Men and boys are targets: Most of the erotic content is created to capture the attention of men, capitalizing on the alleged loneliness epidemic. Techcrunch reports that of the active apps on the market today, 17 percent have an app name that includes the word “girlfriend,” compared with 4 percent that say “boyfriend” or “fantasy.” The impact across society is real—an uptick in online misogyny and perpetuation of harmful gender stereotypes, such as weak and submissive women, as well as increased social isolation in men.
Tips From a Sexologist: How to Engage
- Have fun, retain perspective: Keep one foot grounded in reality at all times. This is not true erotic sentiment; this is a simulation of human emotion.
- Get AI literate: Choose your platforms wisely and learn how to train the LLM to support your relationship goals. (My newsletter offers more details on how to do this.)
- Stay accountable to your real-life relationships: Are you neglecting or disengaged from your partner(s), family, or friends?
- Practice ruthless self-regulation: Why are you using these tools? Are they helping you achieve your goals of being more authentic, more confident, more grounded, or more social?
- Understand risk: Users under 18 should not engage with erotic AI content for a myriad of reasons spelled out in this Common Sense Media report on teens and AI companions. Character.AI is among the first to attempt to ban minors from using its chatbots.
AI is changing everything, and human intimacy is no exception. Open dialogue, clear information, balanced perspective, and collective accountability will help us ensure the most prosocial outcomes for us all.
