OpenAI Indefinitely Halts ChatGPT's Erotic Mode

OpenAI has indefinitely suspended plans to launch an erotic, or adult mode, in ChatGPT. The decision was reported on Thursday, March 26, 2026, by the Financial Times, citing internal company sources.

In practice, the company will refocus its efforts on core products, such as advancements in reasoning and productivity tools, rather than pursuing the feature that would allow explicit sexual conversations for verified adults. The project had already been postponed once, on March 9, when OpenAI stated it needed to prioritize intelligence gains, personality improvements, and personalization.

However, today's postponement goes beyond technical scheduling. Employees and investors raised concrete concerns about the negative impacts that AI-generated sexualized content could have on society. Internal reports indicate that even the company’s wellness advisory board opposed the idea, warning of risks of emotional dependency and mental health issues.

The adult mode, internally referred to as Citron Mode in some code, would have been limited to text. Erotic images, voice, and video would remain blocked. Even so, OpenAI faced technical challenges, such as age verification failures, which, according to industry sources, had an error rate as high as 12% in identifying minors.

Meanwhile, ChatGPT continues with over 900 million active users, and the company maintains its focus on developments that cater to the majority of the audience. The change in direction comes at a time when OpenAI is already dealing with strong competition from other AI models that adopt different approaches to content limits.

OpenAI has not set a new date for the project and, when contacted by outlets like Reuters and The Verge, stated it has nothing to add at this time.