Why Open AI's flirtation with an "adult mode" never landed a date
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (media.transistor.fm) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
In 1965, Yoko Ono sat on a stage at Carnegie Hall and handed a pair of scissors to strangers. What they did next was entirely up to them.
It was a performance about agency — and about what happens when you give an audience too much of it.
Sixty years later, Sam Altman made a promise: OpenAI would treat adults like adults, and roll out an erotic mode for verified users.
The market was there. Other players in the intimate AI companion space were raking in dollars.
But after multiple delays, the Open AI plan was eventually shelved.
So, why is a company known for burning cash, saying no to a revenue making avenue it already considered?
Tune in.
Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.