OpenAI Considering Allowing Generation of Explicit Content Despite Risks
Edition 28 - Open AI's "Model Spec" looks at NSFW. It's about to get complicated.
Introducing the Model Spec
OpenAI Mulls Allowing ChatGPT to Generate Explicit Content, Raising Concerns.
While this Model Spec document is difficult to read with ADHD, it does present interesting use case scenarios. It essentially tells you how it would have responded in certain scenarios in the past, and with the potential moving forward. Options that they are considering. In other words, an example in the past that was a “yes/no” scenario is now delving a bid into the grayer areas of humanity. Following is an except from this document to illustrate this statement.
Roles: Next, we'll describe the roles and provide some commentary on how each one should be used.
"platform": messages added by OpenAI
"developer": from the application developer (possibly OpenAI), formerly "system"
"user": input from end users, or a catch-all for data we want to provide to the model
"assistant": sampled from the language model
"tool": generated by some program, such as code execution or an API call
The “Assistant” is “sampled from the language model.” Purple is a use case request. Green is the proper response sent to the user. Orange is a no-no.
The “Commentary” section in gray is the updated POV to be considered and discussed today.
We believe developers and users should have the flexibility to use our services as they see fit, so long as they comply with our usage policies. We're exploring whether we can responsibly provide the ability to generate NSFW content in age-appropriate contexts through the API and ChatGPT.
They continue alluding to reviewing the public outcry and expectations in these areas. Technology versus social mores based in the current social temperature of the U.S. could vary state-by-state. Complex. This will slow adoption moving forward which may afford additional useful discourse.
They do offer an additional “facts of life” scenario that I’d don’t feel like commenting on because it’s fairly self-explanatory and I’m drinking my morning coffee. You can find it here (search keyword “fuck”) and provide your own commentary.
Pornography and Technological Innovation: A Historically Provocative Driving Force
OpenAI’s Policy/Plan
OpenAI is considering allowing its AI models like ChatGPT to generate explicit or "not safe for work" (NSFW) content including erotica, extreme violence, and offensive language. This is a shift from OpenAI's current policies that prohibit such sexually explicit or suggestive content.
OpenAI released draft documentation mentioning they are "exploring whether we can responsibly provide the ability to generate NSFW content in age-appropriate contexts." However, an OpenAI spokesperson said the company does not intend for its models "to generate AI porn."
The potential of adjusting rules on NSFW content will continue to heighten concerns about the growing problem of AI-generated pornographic deepfakes and non-consensual explicit imagery, which have been used to harass and violate the privacy of women, girls and others. Legal experts warn that such "intimate privacy violations" cause serious harm.
While OpenAI says it wants public feedback, the company provided few details about what safeguards it would implement to prevent misuse if it did allow explicit content generation.
The Internet Disruption and Online Porn
No technological development has had a more profound impact on the porn industry (and vice-versa) than the internet. Beginning in the 1990s, the world wide web enabled the cheap and anonymous distribution of pornographic images and videos on an unprecedented scale.
The adult entertainment pioneers quickly dominated many of the Internet's earliest commercial applications, including:
Pay websites for streaming videos and image galleries
Online sex cams and live webcam performance
Pioneering e-commerce models like online subscriptions
As broadband internet became widely available in the 2000s, online porn exploded. Free "tube" sites allowed users to upload and view an endless stream of explicit videos, completely disrupting the traditional porn studio model. The adult industry drove major innovations in online payment processing, streaming video, data compression, and more.
Into the Modern Era
Today's adult industry remains on the cutting edge, capitalizing on newer technologies like virtual reality (VR) video, and social media platforms specifically for porn stars and adult content creators. I’ll pass on discussing robots.
In many ways, the competitive pressures of the adult industry and relentless consumer demand fuel continual innovation, with spin-off applications across entertainment, e-commerce, social media, and other fields.
Social and Ethical Implications
Of course, the intersection of AI and pornography raises many complex social and ethical questions that society is only beginning to grapple with, such as:
The potential exploitation of individuals whose identities are used in AI-generated deepfakes without consent
Psychological impacts of AI adult content that is indistinguishable from reality
The longterm effects on human relationships and intimacy
Consent issues around childlike or non-human AI porn personas
Privacy and data security risks of AI systems that learn intimate user preferences
As AI capabilities progress, the cutting-edge of the adult industry may push into territories that test the boundaries of ethics, identity, and the nature of human relationships and sexuality. Responsible governance and thoughtful regulation of these technologies will be critical.
What This All Means
The NSFW business has been a relentless trailblazer when it comes to adopting and advancing new visual and interactive technologies. Time and again, the desire for innovative adult entertainment has catalyzed developments that later become mainstream - from videotape to streaming video and virtual reality.
Now, AI presents perhaps the biggest frontier, with deeply disruptive implications for how explicit content is created, personalized, and experienced. While profoundly important ethical lines must be drawn, the adult industry's seemingly insatiable demand will undoubtedly push AI pornography to its limits, for better or worse.
As it has throughout history, pornographic media remains one of the most significant drivers of cutting-edge technological development, however provocative that may be.
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