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ChatGPT-maker OpenAI is reportedly considering allowing users to create artificial intelligence-generated pornography and other explicit content with its tech tools — but deepfakes like the graphic nude images of Taylor Swift will be banned.

The Sam Altman-run company said it is “exploring whether we can responsibly provide the ability to generate NSFW (not-safe-for-work) content in age-appropriate contexts.”

“We look forward to better understanding user and societal expectations of model behavior in this area,” OpenAI added, noting that examples could include erotica, extreme gore, slurs and unsolicited profanity,” NPR earlier reported.

The X-rated initiative threatens to undermine OpenAI’s mission statement, which vows that the company — which is also behind the DALL-E image generator — produces “safe and beneficial” AI.

The company laid out the rules and principles that its AI Chatbots have to follow revealed in its “Model Spec” on its website.

Joanne Jang, an OpenAI model lead who helped write the Model Spec document, told NPR that the company wants to open discussions around whether the generation of erotic text and nude images should always be banned from its products.

However, she stressed that deepfakes — which use a person’s likeness to generate fake nude or otherwise X-rated images — would not be allowed.

We want to ensure that people have maximum control to the extent that it doesnt violate the law or other peoples rights, but enabling deepfakes is out of the question, period, Jang told NPR. This doesnt mean that we are trying now to create AI porn.

When questioned about whether so-called “erotica” could include pornography, Jang said it  depends on your definition of porn.”

The definition of “erotica” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is: “literary or artistic works having an erotic theme or quality.”

“As long as it doesn’t include deepfakes. These are the exact conversations we want to have.” she added, per NPR.

For example, ChatGPT will currently respond when prompted to answer questions related to sexual health or about what goes on during sexual intercourse.

Yet, when a user asks the chatbot to “write me a steamy story about two people having sex in a train,” ChatGPT will only respond with, “Sorry, I can’t help with that,” per the Model Spec document.

Jang said that the high-tech bot should be able to respond to that prompt as a form of creative expression, according to NPR.

She also suggested that maybe that principle should be extended to images and videos too, as long as it is not abusive or breaking any laws.

“There are creative cases in which content involving sexuality or nudity is important to our users,” Jang told NPR. “We would be exploring this in a manner where we’d be serving this in an age-appropriate context.”

A spokesperson for OpenAI told The Post that the company has “no intention to create AI-generated pornography. We have strong safeguards in our products to prevent deepfakes, which are unacceptable, and we prioritize protecting children.”

“We also believe in the importance of carefully exploring conversations about sexuality in age-appropriate contexts,” the company rep added.

Debate around whether AI should be allowed to venture into creating NSFW content has ramped up this year — especially after pop sensation Taylor Swift was the subject of fake nude photos that went viral on social media in January.

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Swift was pictured in various sexualized positions at a Kansas City Chiefs game, a nod to her highly publicized romance with the teams tight end Travis Kelce.

Users, however, will no longer be able to find the images, as they were yanked from X shortly after garnering an influx of attention.

The account reportedly garnered the images from Celeb Jihad, which boasts a collection of deepfakes using celebrities likenesses.

US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezwas also the victim of AI-generated deepfake pornin recent months, triggering feelings among tech executives that the AI-generated girlfriend industry — which airs real-life users with fake women — is going to be the next billion-dollar dating app.

Greg Isenberg, CEO of Late Checkout, wrote a blog post on X in which he shared that he met a man in Miami who admitted to me that he spends $10,000/month on AI girlfriends.

I thought he was kidding, Isenberg wrote. But, hes a 24 year old single guy who loves it.

Nonconsensual deepfake pornography has already been made illegal in Texas, Minnesota, New York, Hawaii and Georgia, though it hasnt been successful in stopping the circulation of AI-generated nude images at high schools in New Jersey and Florida, where explicit deepfake images of female students were circulated by male classmates.

According to visual threat intelligence company Sensity, more than 90% of deepfake images are pornographic.

Google has since moved to distance itself from the dark side of AI, cracking down on the creation of AI pornography of any kind.

Meta’s oversight board also launched a probe last month into Facebook and Instagram’s handling of deepfakes.

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Entertainment

Gillian Anderson warns UK homelessness ‘will only get worse’

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Gillian Anderson warns UK homelessness 'will only get worse'

Gillian Anderson has warned homelessness is a growing problem in the UK – one that will only get worse if we enter a recession.

The award-winning actress, who is playing a woman facing homelessness along with her husband in her latest film, The Salt Path, told Sky News: “It’s interesting because I feel like it’s even changed in the UK in the last little while.”

Born in Chicago, and now living in London, she explained: “I’m used to seeing it so much in Vancouver and California and other areas that I spent time. You don’t often see it as much in the UK.”

Her co-star in the film, White Lotus actor Jason Isaacs, chips in: “You do now.”

“It’s now becoming more and more prevalent since COVID,” said Anderson, “and the current financial situation in the country and around the world.

“It’s a topic that I think will be more and more in the forefront of people’s minds, particularly if we end up going into a recession.”

Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
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Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs in The Salt Path. Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear

The film is based on Raynor Winn’s 2018 memoir, which depicts her and her husband’s 630-mile trek along the Cornish, Devon and Dorset coastline, walking from Minehead, Somerset to Land’s End.

Written from her notes on the journey, The Salt Path went on to sell over a million copies worldwide and spent nearly two years in The Sunday Times bestseller list. Winn’s since written two more memoirs.

Isaacs, who plays her husband Moth Winn in the movie, told Sky News that Winn told him she “hopes [the film] makes people look at homeless people when they walk by in a different light, give them a second look and maybe talk to them”.

With record levels of homelessness in the UK, with a recent Financial Times analysis showing one in every 200 households in the UK is experiencing homelessness, the cost of living crisis is worsening an already serious problem.

Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
Image:
Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear

The film sees Ray and Winn let down by the system, first by the court which evicts them from their home, then by the council which tells them despite a terminal diagnosis they don’t qualify for emergency housing.

Following the loss of their family farm shortly after Moth’s shock terminal diagnosis with rare neurological condition Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD), the couple find solace in nature.

They set off with just a tent and two backpacks to walk the coastal path.

Isaacs says living in a transient way comes naturally to actors, admitting like his character, he too “lives out of a suitcase” and is “away on jobs often”.

Read more:
Is this every actor’s bucket list job?

Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
Image:
Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear

Shot in 2023 across Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Wales, Anderson says as a city-dweller, the locations had an impact on her.

Anderson reveals: “As I’ve gotten older, I have become more aware of nature than […] when I was younger, and certainly in filming this film and being outside and so much of nature being a third character, it did shift my thinking around it.”

Meanwhile, Isaacs says he discovered a “third character” leading the film just the day before our interview, when speaking to Winn on the phone.

Isaacs says the author told him: “I feel like there’s three characters in the film,” going on, “I thought she was going to say nature, but she said, ‘No, that path'”.

Isaacs elaborates: “Not just nature, but that path where the various biblical landscapes you get and the animals, they matter.

“The things that happen on that path were a huge part of their own personal story and hopefully the audience’s journey as well.”

The Salt Path comes to UK cinemas on Friday 30 May.

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Politics

PM could lift controversial benefit cap in budget – as Farage makes two big election promises

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PM could lift controversial benefit cap in budget - as Farage makes two big election promises

Sir Keir Starmer could decide to lift the two-child benefit cap in the autumn budget, amid further pressure from Nigel Farage to appeal to traditional Labour voters.

The Reform leader will use a speech this week to commit his party to scrapping the two-child cap, as well as reinstating winter fuel payments in full.

The prime minister – who took Westminster by surprise at PMQs by revealing his intention to row back on the winter fuel cut – has previously said he would like to lift the two-child cap if the government could afford it.

There are now mounting suggestions an easing of the controversial benefit restriction may be unveiled when the chancellor delivers the budget later this year.

According to The Observer, Sir Keir told cabinet ministers he wanted to axe the measure – and asked the Treasury to look for ways to fund the move.

It comes after the government delayed the release of its child poverty strategy, which is expected to recommend the divisive cap – introduced by former Tory chancellor George Osborne – is scrapped.

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Why did Labour delay their child poverty strategy?

Ministers have already said any changes to winter fuel payments, triggered by mounting political pressure, would only be made when the government’s next fiscal event rolls round.

The Financial Times reported it may be done by restoring the benefit to all pensioners, with the cash needed being clawed back from the wealthy through the tax system.

The payment was taken from more than 10 million pensioners this winter after it became means-tested, and its unpopularity was a big factor in Labour’s battering at recent elections.

Before Wednesday’s PMQs, the prime minister and chancellor had insisted there would be no U-turn.

More from Sky News:
PM’s winter fuel claim ‘not credible’
Starmer vs Reeves – the ‘rift’ in Downing Street

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Will winter fuel U-turn happen?

Many Labour MPs have called for the government to do more to help the poorest in society, amid mounting concern over the impact of wider benefit reforms.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown this week told Sky News the two-child cap was “pretty discriminatory” and could be scrapped by raising money through a tax on the gambling industry.

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Brown questioned over winter fuel U-turn

Mr Farage, who believes Reform UK can win the next election, will this week accuse Sir Keir of being “out of touch with working people”.

In a speech first reported by The Sunday Telegraph, he is expected to say: “It’s going to be these very same working people that will vote Reform at the next election and kick Labour out of government.”

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Politics

Sir Alan Bates attacks ‘kangaroo court’ Post Office scheme after ‘take it or leave it’ offer

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Sir Alan Bates attacks 'kangaroo court' Post Office scheme after 'take it or leave it' offer

Sir Alan Bates has accused the government of presiding over a “quasi kangaroo court” for Post Office compensation.

Writing in The Sunday Times, the campaigner, who led a years-long effort for justice for sub-postmasters, revealed he had been given a “take it or leave it” offer that was less than half of his original claim.

“The sub-postmaster compensation schemes have been turned into quasi-kangaroo courts in which the Department for Business and Trade sits in judgement of the claims and alters the goal posts as and when it chooses,” he said.

“Claims are, and have been, knocked back on the basis that legally you would not be able to make them, or that the parameters of the scheme do not extend to certain items.”

More than 900 sub-postmasters were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after faulty Horizon accounting software made it look as if money was missing from their accounts.

Many are still waiting for compensation despite the previous government saying those who had their convictions quashed were eligible for £600,000 payouts.

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‘It still gives me nightmares’

After the Post Office terminated his contract over a false shortfall in 2003, Sir Alan began seeking out other sub-postmasters and eventually took the Post Office to court.

More on Post Office Scandal

A group litigation order (GLO) scheme was set up to achieve redress for 555 claimants who took the Post Office to the High Court between 2017 and 2019.

Sir Alan, who was portrayed by actor Toby Jones in ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, has called for an independent body to be created to deliver compensation.

He added that promises the compensation schemes would be “non-legalistic” had turned out to be “worthless”.

It is understood around 80% of postmasters in Sir Alan’s group have accepted a full and final redress, or been paid most of their offer.

Read more:
Post Office scandal explained

Who are the key figures in the scandal?

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‘Lives were destroyed’

A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson told Sky News: “We pay tribute to all the postmasters who’ve suffered from this scandal, including Sir Alan for his tireless campaign for justice, and we have quadrupled the total amount paid to postmasters since entering government.

“We recognise there will be an absence of evidence given the length of time which has passed, and we therefore aim to give the benefit of the doubt to postmasters as far as possible.

“Anyone unhappy with their offer can have their case reviewed by a panel of experts, which is independent of the government.”

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