The 4th International Congress on Love and Sex with Robots, a two-day symposium due to be held at the Université Libre de Bruxelles starting from July 1, has set an ambitious goal of discussing what robot love entails, and among top anticipated speakers there will be Dr David Levy, who pioneered scientific research on the somewhat sensitive subject. His 2007 book “Love and Sex with Robots” kick-started the global discussion which has only grown more lively over time.
However, it is perhaps the livestream question and answer session with the sexbot Harmony that arouses most curiosity, as it is the first time an android will partake in a live chat, The Daily Star reported.
Harmony entered the spotlight as the first AI-enhanced sex doll and became a sensation on the dating website Tinder when filmmaker Jimmy Mehiel experimented by creating a profile for her where he described the android's strong points:
“I’m an anatomically correct, sexually capable robot with the most advanced AI available,” her bio read at the time. The statistics that the film director arrived at, with 17 of 57 men that picked Harmony as a partner expressing certainty they would eagerly have sex with the doll, provided the basis for a short film called “I Want My Sex Machine” about the ethical aspects of sex dolls and respective brothels.
“I Want My Sex Machine” is portrayed as “a raucous and unapologetically honest debate about what price humanity will have to pay if sex robots are the way we choose to escape the loneliness and isolation of the modern world.”
AI sex robots, including Harmony, produced by the iconic narrow-specialised firm Realbotix are currently being upgraded with Wi-Fi to further bolster their realism and enable to behave without “constant direction”, famed sex doll collector Brick Dollbanger earlier told The Daily Star, adding the upgraded features promise to soon render the dolls completely “indistinguishable from humans.” For instance, Realbotix recently improved its silicone brainchild with an improved “vaginal sensor” that has overwhelmingly boosted the doll’s responses.
Dollbanger claimed that the pace sex robots get increasingly improved may usher in what he referred to as a “synthetic sexual revolution”, similar to the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Neuroscientist and relationship coach Bobbi Banks echoed the stance, arguing that sexual and romantic relationships between humans and robots could become widespread by 2050, thereby rivalling purely human ties.