OpenAI Executive Who Opposed ‘Adult Mode’ Fired for Sexual Discrimination
OpenAI has cut ties with one of its top safety executives, on the grounds of sexual discrimination, after she voiced opposition to the controversial rollout of AI erotica in its ChatGPT product.
The fast-growing artificial intelligence company fired the executive, Ryan Beiermeister, in early January, following a leave of absence, according to people familiar with the matter. OpenAI told her the termination was related to her sexual discrimination against a male colleague.
“The allegation that I discriminated against anyone is absolutely false,” Beiermeister said in a statement in response to a request for comment.
OpenAI said Beiermeister “made valuable contributions during her time at OpenAI, and her departure was not related to any issue she raised while working at the company.”
Beiermeister served as the vice president leading OpenAI’s product policy team, which develops rules for how people can use the company’s products and helps design the enforcement mechanisms for those policies.
Her ousting came ahead of OpenAI’s planned launch early this year of a mode that will allow users to create AI erotica in ChatGPT. The planned feature, which would permit adult-themed conversation including sexual topics for adult users, has drawn criticism from researchers at the company who have studied the ways some people develop unhealthy attachments to chatbots, according to some of the people. They have raised the prospect that sexual content could intensify the feelings some people have for the AI personas they view as companions.
Members of an advisory council on “well-being and AI” that OpenAI convenes regularly have also expressed opposition to adult mode and urged the company to reconsider plans to launch it, people with knowledge of those discussions said.
OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman has defended the move to expand the permissible content on his platform as a part of an effort to “treat adult users like adults.”
Before her firing, Beiermeister told colleagues that she opposed adult mode, and worried it would have harmful effects for users, people familiar with her remarks said.
She also told colleagues that she believed OpenAI’s mechanisms to stop child-exploitation content weren’t effective enough, and that the company couldn’t sufficiently wall off adult content from teens, the people said.
She is one of several employees within OpenAI who have expressed concerns about the launch of adult mode, people familiar with the matter said.
OpenAI has drawn more than 800 million users each week to ChatGPT in its campaign to build the most advanced artificial intelligence. The company now plans to monetize the engagement of those users with advertising. News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, has a content-licensing partnership with OpenAI.
OpenAI has kept close tabs on competitors, and in December declared a “code red” after the surprising success and growth of Google’s Gemini chatbot.
Another competitor, xAI, has found that offering looser guardrails around sexual content in its Grok chatbot has helped drive engagement.
Beiermeister started at OpenAI in mid-2024 as a part of a wave of hires from Meta who viewed themselves as trying to change tech companies from the inside, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Beiermeister started a peer-mentorship program for women at OpenAI in early 2025. The program connected women from different parts of the company and helped them gather in small groups to discuss career strategies, according to people familiar with the matter.
The fast-growing artificial intelligence company fired the executive, Ryan Beiermeister, in early January, following a leave of absence, according to people familiar with the matter. OpenAI told her the termination was related to her sexual discrimination against a male colleague.
“The allegation that I discriminated against anyone is absolutely false,” Beiermeister said in a statement in response to a request for comment.
OpenAI said Beiermeister “made valuable contributions during her time at OpenAI, and her departure was not related to any issue she raised while working at the company.”
Beiermeister served as the vice president leading OpenAI’s product policy team, which develops rules for how people can use the company’s products and helps design the enforcement mechanisms for those policies.
Her ousting came ahead of OpenAI’s planned launch early this year of a mode that will allow users to create AI erotica in ChatGPT. The planned feature, which would permit adult-themed conversation including sexual topics for adult users, has drawn criticism from researchers at the company who have studied the ways some people develop unhealthy attachments to chatbots, according to some of the people. They have raised the prospect that sexual content could intensify the feelings some people have for the AI personas they view as companions.
Members of an advisory council on “well-being and AI” that OpenAI convenes regularly have also expressed opposition to adult mode and urged the company to reconsider plans to launch it, people with knowledge of those discussions said.
OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman has defended the move to expand the permissible content on his platform as a part of an effort to “treat adult users like adults.”
Before her firing, Beiermeister told colleagues that she opposed adult mode, and worried it would have harmful effects for users, people familiar with her remarks said.
She also told colleagues that she believed OpenAI’s mechanisms to stop child-exploitation content weren’t effective enough, and that the company couldn’t sufficiently wall off adult content from teens, the people said.
She is one of several employees within OpenAI who have expressed concerns about the launch of adult mode, people familiar with the matter said.
OpenAI has drawn more than 800 million users each week to ChatGPT in its campaign to build the most advanced artificial intelligence. The company now plans to monetize the engagement of those users with advertising. News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, has a content-licensing partnership with OpenAI.
OpenAI has kept close tabs on competitors, and in December declared a “code red” after the surprising success and growth of Google’s Gemini chatbot.
Another competitor, xAI, has found that offering looser guardrails around sexual content in its Grok chatbot has helped drive engagement.
Beiermeister started at OpenAI in mid-2024 as a part of a wave of hires from Meta who viewed themselves as trying to change tech companies from the inside, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Beiermeister started a peer-mentorship program for women at OpenAI in early 2025. The program connected women from different parts of the company and helped them gather in small groups to discuss career strategies, according to people familiar with the matter.
