Microsoft says it will not create AI tools for erotic or adult content, distances itself from OpenAI

Microsoft

Microsoft is making it clear that it doesn’t want its artificial intelligence tools to venture into adult or erotic territory. Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, said the company will not build or support any AI products that provide “simulated erotica.”

“That’s just not a service we’re going to provide,” Suleyman said at the Paley International Council Summit held in Menlo Park, California. “Other companies will build that.”

His comments come shortly after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that verified adults would soon be able to use ChatGPT for erotica, adding that OpenAI is “not the elected moral police of the world.”

The two companies — once closely aligned — now appear to be on slightly different paths. Microsoft has been one of OpenAI’s biggest backers and its main cloud partner, but their partnership has shown a few cracks recently. OpenAI has started working with Microsoft’s rivals like Google and Oracle, while Microsoft continues to strengthen its own AI ecosystem through its Copilot platform.

Just before Suleyman’s remarks, Microsoft announced new AI features for its Copilot assistant, including a conversational companion named Mico, which can respond to calls and even express moods by changing its color.

Suleyman, who joined Microsoft earlier this year after co-founding DeepMind and Inflection AI, has often spoken about building “responsible” artificial intelligence. In a recent essay, he said AI should be made “for people, not to be a person.” He warned that creating AIs that appear “conscious” or capable of emotion could divide society further.

At the event, he cautioned that the rise of erotica-driven AI systems — often featuring digital avatars or “sexbot” companions — could be dangerous. “You can already see it with some of these avatars and people leaning into the kind of sexbot erotica direction,” Suleyman said. “This is very dangerous, and I think we should be making conscious decisions to avoid those kinds of things.”

OpenAI didn’t respond to the remarks, while Elon Musk’s xAI dismissed media coverage of the issue, saying, “Legacy Media Lies.”