Erotic audio platform Dipsea has removed all AI-generated content from its library, with the company saying “there was something missing” in its AI-assisted stories.
The move has sparked debate about the use of AI in the erotic and intimacy tech space, where users often look for believable connections while companies look to create large amounts of content.
Dipsea said it removed AI voices and artwork from its libraries, and that using AI “didn’t sit right” with the company.
The audio platform launched in 2018. Now Dipsea offers what it calls “sexy audio stories designed to turn you on”, and is described as a women-led company largely marketed at female listeners. Or, as the company puts it, “Designed from the female gaze, for everyone”.
In a company Substack post, Dipsea said it began using AI-generated voices and artwork to help it keep up with growing customer demand for new content. It said it has more than 1,200 original audio stories in its library, and that less than three percent of them used AI voice simulation. Dipsea added that it used generative AI to create 204 pieces of art.
The company said that although it used AI for a small proportion of its content, something had been lost in the AI adoption, particularly with audio narration.
Dipsea said “it’s those very tiny, human details that make our stories feel magically alive. It’s the extra turn of phrase a writer adds in at the last minute, or the hitch in a voice actor’s breath midway through a recording, that always seems to elevate a story from hot into something truly erotic.”
The company added: “So we felt that when it came to those AI-assisted stories, there was something missing.”
Dipsea has re-recorded its AI audio content with human voices, and got human artists to replace its AI artwork.
The company said: “Our commitment to working with exceptional creatives and compensating them properly is central to who we are. Using AI to replace creative labor doesn’t align with that ethos.”
Dipsea customers commenting on the announcement of the AI removal praised the company for the move, with some saying they had noticed the AI artwork and disapproved of it. If you combine that with a growing number of disgruntled users, the turnaround is virtually a no-brainer as a publicity win.
Who benefits from this reversal
It’s understandable that small companies like Dipsea have succumbed to the temptation to use AI to bolster content libraries. Hiring human voice actors is time-consuming and can be expensive, with customer demand for fresh content seemingly neverending.
But considering that Dipsea is a company based on replicating human connection, its use of AI was always going to jar. Audio stories represent one of the most intimate forms of storytelling, and realizing you’re listening to a hot erotic story read by AI rather than an actor engaging with the script hardly helps the mood.
Olivia Taylor, Dipsea’s editorial lead, said: “AI art and voices were really experimental at Dipsea. Not something that made up a big part of our offering. And still, it just didn’t really sit right with us.”
Taylor added that “working with artists, and voice actors, really re-confirmed our suspicion that the creative work our voice actors and artists do and make is really complex and not something that AI can replicate well.”
The AI U-turn has ended up being a mild publicity win for Dipsea, helping position it as an exclusively human-led audio company amid a sea of AI slop.
Taylor said: “In many ways, AI art and voices are the opposite of personal”.
