When the history of AI is written, Steven Adler may just end up being its Paul Revere—or at least, one of them—when it comes to safety.
Last month Adler, who spent four years in various safety roles at OpenAI, wrote data-offer-url=”https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/opinion/openai-chatgpt-safety.html” class=”external-link” data-event-click=”{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/opinion/openai-chatgpt-safety.html"}” href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/opinion/openai-chatgpt-safety.html” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>a piece for The New York Times with a rather alarming title: “I Led Product Safety at OpenAI. Don’t Trust Its Claims About ‘Erotica.’” In it, he laid out the problems OpenAI faced when it came to allowing users to have erotic conversations with chatbots while also protecting…
