OpenAI pulls plug on adult chatbot

Following the decision to shut down the Sora video generator, OpenAI is also abandoning “Citron Mode,” the AI project for adult content generation announced in October 2025.

According to the Financial Times, the decision by Sam Altman and the company’s leadership was driven not only by ethical concerns but also by technical challenges, CE Report quotes ANSA.

The adult chatbot is now suspended indefinitely, with no planned release date. Sources told the publication that the company struggled to train AI models that also filtered out illegal behavior and considered conducting longer-term research on the effects of erotic chats and AI on users.

Like with the recent Sora closure, Sam Altman’s company is also focusing on its core productivity tools and eliminating secondary projects in anticipation of a potential public offering.

The idea of an adult chatbot emerged last fall, after OpenAI introduced parental controls in ChatGPT and automatic age-detection features.

However, according to the FT, the mode raised investor concerns, particularly following controversies around Elon Musk’s Grok, which drew scrutiny from global institutions and governments for generating erotic deepfakes.

Another challenge for Altman’s company is age-verification technology, introduced after legal actions by families claiming ChatGPT harmed their children, which still has a high error rate.