According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI recently fired Ryan Beiermeister, the vice president of product policy. Although the company cited her alleged gender discrimination against male colleagues as the reason, Beiermeister issued a statement denying the allegations, calling them "completely false."

According to insiders, Beiermeister had expressed strong concerns about OpenAI's planned "Adult Mode" for ChatGPT before her dismissal.

OpenAI plans to launch an adult mode that allows content involving sexual topics. Beiermeister and some researchers believe this could increase users' unhealthy emotional dependence on AI, and the company currently cannot effectively prevent minors from accessing such content.

Sam Altman defended the expansion of content by stating it was part of treating adult users as adults.

Facing the growth of Google Gemini and xAI (Grok) with relaxed content restrictions leading to high engagement, OpenAI has entered a "red alert" state, rushing to monetize traffic through diverse content and advertising.

Although an OpenAI spokesperson emphasized that Beiermeister's departure was unrelated to her product concerns, the change has once again sparked discussions about OpenAI's balance between pursuing commercial growth and maintaining safety standards.

Key Points:

  • ⚖️ Executive Defense: Ryan Beiermeister was fired for allegedly discriminating against colleagues, but she denied the accusations, calling them fabricated.

  • 🔞 Safety Warning: Several employees and advisory board members are concerned that ChatGPT's adult features may increase users' emotional addiction to AI.

  • 📈 Business Race: To cope with competitive pressures from xAI and others, OpenAI is relaxing content boundaries and accelerating the advertising monetization process.