Offering an Adult Mode on ChatGPT was a promise made by CEO Sam Altman in October 2025, but quickly ran into problems, leading to delays, and later postponement.
Just last week, it became clear that the age checks would lead to some 12 million kids being exposed to erotic conversations, and the Advisory Board worried about «unhealthy attachments,» Ars Technica writes.
FT also says teams found difficulties in training models previously taught to avoid erotica, and yet more problems with keeping the illegal stuff out.
Also, investor relations were taking a hit from the proposed plans, fearing that it might serve up Grok-like problems for OpenAI.
OpenAI now says they will focus on «core products» like coding and business, and this is another abandoned «side quest.»
Read more: The Financial Times (paywalled), Ars Technica and Engadget.