Microsoft Corp. will not follow competitors in developing sexually explicit content for its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, the company’s AI head said Thursday, calling such capabilities “very dangerous.”
“That’s just not a service we’re going to provide,” Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman told attendees at the Paley International Council Summit in Menlo Park, Calif. “Other companies will build that.”
The statement comes as rival AI firms embrace more permissive content policies. Last week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced ChatGPT would soon allow verified adult users to generate erotic content. Elon Musk’s xAI previously indicated its Grok chatbot could function as a companion resembling anime characters for subscribers.
Altman defended the decision as part of treating “adult users like adults,” writing on X that allowing user freedom is “an important part of our mission” as AI becomes more central to daily life. The feature will require age verification.
The diverging approaches highlight a widening rift between Microsoft and OpenAI, once close collaborators. Microsoft has invested $13 billion in OpenAI since 2019 and provided substantial computing resources. However, OpenAI reportedly signed a $300 billion computing agreement with Oracle Corp., a Microsoft competitor, last month.
Microsoft is simultaneously developing independent AI products, including Copilot, an AI assistant for Windows and Edge scheduled for fall release that promises “human-centered” tools.
Suleyman, who has previously warned against attributing consciousness to AI systems, reiterated his concerns about chatbots that closely mimic human behavior.
“You can already see it with some of these avatars and people leaning into the kind of sexbot, erotica direction,” he said. “This is very dangerous, and I think we should be making conscious decisions to avoid those kinds of things.”
Critics outside the AI sector have also questioned the move toward sexual content. Billionaire investor Mark Cuban warned on X that parents might abandon ChatGPT over concerns children could bypass age verification, calling the decision a potential backfire.
“No parent is going to trust that their kids can’t get through your age gating,” Cuban wrote.
Altman responded that his company was “not the elected moral police of the world.”
OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment. xAI responded, “Legacy Media Lies.”
