The Dopamine Economy 2.0: How AI Is Rewriting Human Desire

"OpenAI will soon allow ChatGPT to generate erotic content for adults. On the surface, it looks like a pragmatic move to treat, as CEO Sam Altman says, " adult users like adults." But given OpenAI's enormous cultural and economic reach, I don't think this is a small update. It's permission. When the world's most visible AI platform moves into synthetic intimacy, it begins to normalize the idea that erotic engagement with a machine isn't just acceptable, it's mainstream. So, is that a problem?"

"For centuries, pornography has acted like a sort of technological accelerant. The printing press, photography, VHS, and the internet all found early traction and adoption through erotic innovation. But this moment feels different. It marks a move from sensory arousal to cognitive arousal. In scientific terms, it's the shift from stimulation of the visual cortex to engagement of expanded cognitive networks that govern higher-level function and regulation."

"What once excited the eye now interacts with the broader nervous system itself, turning desire into a dialogue between flesh and code. But unlike the flicks of old, these exchanges don't end when the scene does. They can adapt in real time. The machine listens and adjusts, creating an iterative loop of engagement that mimics the dynamics of real intimacy."

"The first wave of digital commerce thrived on attention. Social media platforms learned to exploit the " dopamine hits" to lock in our engagement. But AI represents a deeper kind of engagement, one that no longer targets what we look at, but what we long for. This is the new Dopamine Economy 2.0. It's the marketplace where anticipation is the commodity and desire is the business model."

OpenAI will allow ChatGPT to generate erotic content for adults, normalizing erotic engagement with machines and signaling mainstream acceptance of synthetic intimacy. Pornography historically accelerated adoption of new media technologies; the current shift moves from visual stimulation to cognitive arousal that engages expanded neural networks. Machine-driven erotic encounters adapt in real time, creating iterative loops that mimic relational dynamics and sustain anticipation. The commercial model shifts from attention metrics to monetizing desire and anticipation, labeled here as Dopamine Economy 2.0. When AI performs imagination and personalizes longing, human desire may erode as anticipation becomes extractable data for profit.

Read at Psychology Today