The wide and deep placement of NSFW character AI on mainstream platforms are faced with substantial resistance, not only due to content regulations but for brand safety concerns as well considering the user demographic diversity. Popular networks such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are mostly focused at children so they have a lot more stringent regulations that supervise the form of matter which is published on their respective websites. By 2023, Meta said that its AI content moderation tools were able to automatically delete or take actions against 98% of detected explicit material before users viewed it. This proactive stance illustrates how mainstream platforms push back on the dissemination of NSFW materials in order to maintain their general audience reach and access to advertisers.
A major challenge — the brand safety problem. Though this is a high estimate, advertising revenue will be how tens of billions in public market capitalization generated by platforms turn profitable and support economies globally. These are areas that, typically at least until recently, marketers want to avoid because it could hurt their brand. In 2021, a study concluded that if uncontrolled NSFW content was found on the platform from which they advertise as video creators would drive 72 per cent of marketers to tear down their campaigns. This is why mainstream platforms are so hesitant to allow anything into the ecosystem that may risk those lucrative relationships and results in NSFW character AI not becoming a fully embraced entity.
A third area relates to adherance with international content norms. Digital Oblique Care: Countries such as Germany, Australia and the UK have stricter laws surrounding politically explicit digital content that mainstream platforms must adhere to. This applies particularly to the European Union, where the Digital Services Act provides for significant sanctions if platforms do not respond effectively enough in dealing with illegal or dangerous content. Non-compliance with these regulations can be complex and expensive, for the cost of non-compliance is estimated at up to 4 per cent annually on revenue globally — so platforms are incentivised not to allow certain types of content (or advertisers) that may trigger regulatory attention.
Similarly, the vast demographic difference in users on those mainstream platforms can make integration even more of a headache. Over 11 million people have been using the platform in Finland, so a small percentage is still significant when we take into account some of those platforms as TikTok and Instagram are being used by billions around different age groups even minors. In 2022, more than 41% of the active user base that TikTok attracted was under twenty-four years old — too young a demographic for which to forego heightened content safety. Even with a bunch of AIs designed to prevent NSFW characters posting these kind of users might be hard, and I don´t think child protection agencies would let us just do our thing if this kept happening.
Although this has led to the success of NSFW character AIs in niche platforms, mainstream uses fundamentally serve a different purpose and audience. Sites such as Patreon or Reddit have their own specific NSFW-level divisions within defined parameters while others, like Tumblr by its recent decision to remove adult content all together; these sites either divide user age and adhere community-guideline access entirely. These platforms are for the users who look out for this kind of content, and thus they make sure there is a clear line demarcation between what could be given as approval. On the other hand, mainstream platforms opt for more general appeal and therefore would not be ideal fora NSFW character AI integration without diluting their core brand.
This is also a matter of ethics. As Timnit Gebru, a renowned AI ethicist puts it: “The difficulty is in dimensioning user agency against other limits such as the protection of vulnerable populations or standards applicable to communities. As such, mainstream platforms treat it seriously with AI driven moderation systems that are caution by design. On the user end, enabling such character- and AI-designed NSFW content would also necessitate a fundamental change in how this type of platform moderates for explicit material — likely leading to more sophisticated layers or filters that are dubious if they can work properly without significantly expanding upon human moderation (which would be expensive / inefficient).
Ultimately, NSFW character AI is a great advancement on the potential contribution by these characters but has done well in niche platforms when it tries to move into mainstream ones. Taken together — side by side with brand safety, regulatory hurdles and the diversity of user bases involved in premise-data sharing (one hopes) so top-of-mind is some semblance of ethics about using people to solve problems when everyone knows that really deep down you know an adjust or two could automate just as well! etc., no more room for psychographic data flailing around within Mastery Learning & Universal Basic Income), widespread adoption seems unlikely. However, within specific environments (where the application of this technology thrives), nsfw character ai is a fantastic example and an illustrative instance on how such tools can be used responsibly.