In early January of this year, OpenAI terminated the employment of Ryan Bemerster, the Vice President of the Product Policy Team, citing gender discrimination—an accusation that Bemerster vehemently denied. Her dismissal occurred just prior to OpenAI's announcement of its intention to introduce an adult mode, a feature that would enable users to generate AI-created adult content within ChatGPT. This proposed feature has already faced significant opposition from internal researchers and members of the 'Well-being and AI' advisory board. However, CEO Sam Altman has stood by the decision to broaden the platform's content offerings.

Bemerster had been a vocal opponent of the adult mode's launch, voicing apprehensions about its potential negative impact on users. She highlighted the inadequacy of the company's existing safeguards designed to prevent children from accessing exploitative content, arguing that these measures were insufficient to effectively shield minors from adult material. Bemerster was among a group of employees within OpenAI who shared these concerns.

OpenAI, which boasts a weekly user base exceeding 800 million, has plans to capitalize on its vast traffic through advertising. In light of the competitive landscape, with rivals such as Google and xAI, OpenAI had previously declared a state of 'red alert' to navigate the challenges ahead.