David Levy, a leading expert in artificial intelligence, who spent years studying sexbots, will deliver a keynote speech at the 4th International Congress on Love and Sex with Robots, where he will address a somewhat pressing issue in today's reality: the notion of sexual consent in relations with machines.
According to The Daily Star, the author, who wrote a book about robot-human sex relations, saying that they will be routine by 2050, suggests that even though future sex robots "will be our equals or betters in many ways", male ones may be found guilty of rape if their programming fails.
Levy criticised the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament for "victim-blaming", since the institution's 2016 report said, "Damage caused by autonomous robots might also be traced back to user error. In such instances, either strict or fault-based liability may be imposed, depending on circumstances".
"This would seem to imply that, in some cases of inappropriate or illegal behaviour by a malebot seeking sex with a woman, the woman herself could be found to be liable. To me this sounds too much like 'She was asking for it'", Levy explained.
The expert then added that while humans will have certain responsibilities to the bots, the machines should as well have responsibilities towards their "sexual partner".
While Levy has touched upon the issue of human consent, computer scientists previously raised the issue of ethics in relation to machines, stressing that people ignore the fact that they may seriously damage the robot, just because it cannot say "no" to their advances.
For instance, two years ago a sex robot, named Samantha, built by Barcelona-based engineer Sergi Santos, "survived" an aggressive encounter: the doll was repaired after several men violently groped it at the Arts Electronica Festival in Austria.
Santos insisted that his creation was programmed with artificial intelligence so that it responded to "gentle seduction", not "barbarian treatment", and later reportedly upgraded it with the power to say "no".
