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Creativity Squared: On A.I. and Incentives

Dear Creativity Squared Collective —

Hope this finds you well wherever in the world you're reading this!

This week, Sam Altman announced that OpenAI will be loosening the restrictions on ChatGPT to allow for more X-rated engagement for adults who aren’t experiencing a mental health crisis. This means that in a few weeks adults will be able to have erotic conversations with ChatGPT if they want. He calls this OpenAI’s “treat adult users like adults” principle.

Here are his announcement tweets on it:

I have a few notes on this announcement. But first, to be clear, I’m not anti-adult content — I’m anti-reckless A.I.! If you want a fun Creativity Squared episode, I’ve had Cindy Gallop, the founder of Make Love, Not Porn, on the podcast in Episode 43: Sex, A.I., and the Human Condition.

Now for my notes:

Follow the money — Why is OpenAI loosening the restrictions? Saanya Ojha pointed this out in a recent LinkedIn post:

“So when OpenAI opens the door to erotica, it’s not moral decay — it’s monetization logic. Emotional and erotic engagement = fastest path to recurring revenue. Sticky, high-engagement, and cheap to scale.”

OpenAI needs a lot of money — TechCrunch reported that OpenAI has five years to turn $13 billion annual revenue into $1 TRILLION! This company, which has become deeply entwined with the economy and has amassed unprecedented debt, is exploring “creative” ways to bridge the gap. While Google DeepMind is making scientific breakthroughs, like this week’s new hypothesis for cancer treatment, OpenAI is prioritizing revenue-generating opportunities (allegedly to eventually fund its own scientific breakthrough research).

And as we all know: sex sells!

A.I.’s risks and impact on mental health — In Sam Altman’s announcement, he mentioned that “we will treat users who are having mental health crises very different from users who are not.”

First, how will OpenAI supposedly differentiate between users in mental health crisis versus not?

Second, based on this and the fact that they’re relaxing restrictions, I’m curious how they are mitigating the risk of users developing mental health issues by simply engaging with their chatbots? These are the users who are not in crisis, but develop issues from their engagement with ChatGPT.

We’ve seen the reports on the rise of A.I. psychosis and stories of folks who went from chatting with the LLM to spiraling into delusions based on the conversations.

Sam Altman has said many times publicly that their iterative approach to improvement includes “real-world use” — aka, we’re the beta testers of these products. Not a great position to be in when it is a life and death scenario for those who fall victim to A.I.-enabled suicide.

More so, Luiza Jarovsky stated on LinkedIn that she’d like to see the evidence backing up these claims that they’ve “been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues.”

Given the seriousness of what’s at stake, it’d be nice to have third-party watchdogs and experts weigh in rather than just taking Sam’s word on it — or even, gasp!, adequate regulation. And on this front, it’s also important to point out that to be a mental health practitioner, you need a license — general-purpose LLMs don’t have the same requirements or accountability, which is a major red flag in my book.

Things are going to get steamy, but also potentially very dangerous when these features roll out. What could possibly go wrong with the incentive to make as much money as possible by unleashing intimate, “erotic” conversations for adult users?!

The reality is that with financial incentives driving intimate conversations and no adequate oversight, the risks to vulnerable users are real and deeply concerning.

Chat creatively…and safely!

Don’t miss your opportunity to connect with Big Kitty Labs: exclusive to this newsletter, they’re offering a free software strategy session and bonus blueprint — a $2K value! Book your free call now with their A.I. expert developers to gain clarity on how to transform your idea into a business breakthrough: https://bigkittylabs.com/offer 

Two shameless plugs: book me as a speaker for your next event and pre-order my forthcoming book on the Imagination Age today!

Until next week, here’s to playing in the playground of possibility to manifest more magic in 2025! 🪄✨

-Helen

Helen Todd (she/her)
Human behind Creativity Squared
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🗞 PRESS & PODCAST INTERVIEWS

📺 BBC News (June 5, 2025) — What is the future of digital clones? 

🎤 SXSW 2025 (March 11, 2025) “Farewell, Information Age — Welcome to the Imagination Age”:

🎙 Fulcra Dynamics podcast, “The Augmented Life,” with CEO Michael Tiffany (April 29, 2025) — The Imagination Age Is Here: Reclaiming Attention, Creativity, and the Future of AI with Helen Todd

🎙 AI Explored with Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner (November 5, 2024) — Using AI to Expand Your Ideas and Creativity 

🎙 Reflections with an Accent with Kike Calvo (October 18, 2024) — Unveiling AI's Creative Power with Helen Todd | Reflections with an Accent 

🏆 Cincinnati Business Courier’s Fire Awards (May 2025) — Finalist in “Disruptor” category for CincyAI for Humans

🏆 Aviatra Accelerators (September 5, 2024) — Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award 

📖 Movers & Makers Magazine (October 1, 2024) — Notables in AI + Print

📖 Cincinnati Magazine + Print (December 19, 2023) — Clone Wars + Print

🖥 SXSW Conference Community Newsletter (December 5, 2024) — SXSW 2025 Speaker Helen Todd talks Digital Twins

🖥 UC News (July 5, 2024) — Mayor Pureval, Rob Richardson lead ethical AI symposium

🖥 UC News (June 4, 2024) — Community of AI enthusiasts expands in Cincinnati

🖥 AdAge (April 15, 2024) — The Dalí Museum used AI to recreate Salvador Dalí’s voice—so you can ask him anything

🖥 UC Office of Research (February 28, 2024) — CincyAI and Digital Futures Partnership: Growing AI Talent in our Region & Beyond 

Listen: Ep.75 BBL Drizzy, A.I. & Manifesting A.I.: Discover How Will Hatcher Manifested His Way to a Time100 A.I. 2024 Honoree

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“If you're trying to play life safe, then I don't think you can fully experience life, you know. So you gotta go to places that you never been before, be in uncomfortable situations, because that's where the real growth is.” -King Willonius

Discover the magic of manifesting in a Creativity Squared exclusive interview from the ONLY comedian (and one of two artists!) who’s a Time100 AI 2024 honoree in the Innovators category: King Willonius. 👑 

His real name is Willonius Hatcher (his first name is pronounced “Will-OWN-ee-us,” and he also goes by Will). 2024 has been a breakout year for Will after his “BBL Drizzy” comedy song went viral — the first song made in collaboration with A.I. that became a cultural phenomenon, transcending genres and mediums!  

What do Burning Man, Dune 2, and the Frost Planetarium have to do with his story? Listen in to our 75th episode — and the last one for 2024! — to find out.

Creativity Squared interviewed Will live at the FilmGate Miami Interactive Festival XI, one of the top ten immersive festivals in the world! You’ll hear why it’s so special from the festival’s Head Curator, Co-Founder, and Executive Producer, Diliana Alexander. 

On opening night, the FilmGate Miami audience got a preview of the “BBL Drizzy Musical Dome Experience”. Next year, Creativity Squared will be back to see the full production and host another time capsule conversation with Will. 

Once you check out the interview, you’ll know that Will is just scratching the surface of what’s possible — he’s ahead of the entertainment industries, and is definitely one to follow!

Why did he make the Time100 AI 2024 Innovators list? 

For Creativity Squared Founder and Podcast Host, Helen Todd’s take, check out the dedicated blog post accompanying this episode (we recommend starting with this first 😉):

Our 2025 podcast season will kick off again in April, but we’ll keep the newsletter going between now and then, aside from the holidays.

Here’s to manifesting more magic in the new year — enjoy! 💝🪄✨

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