Can a sexrobot replace physical intimacy between humans? Does the phenomena of hyper realistic silicon partners pose a threat to our society? Is it ok to form an emotional bond with an advanced sex toy? Opinions vary, but let's try to sort things out





Over the past few years, sex dolls have become hyper realistic, strongly resembling humans. Today’s market is far past inflatable vaguely lady-shape balloons. Now, a consumer can find dolls equipped with mechanical compounds, some can move their joints, there are sex dolls that actually can mimic facial expressions to give their ‘lover’ emotional feedback, and some of the most sophisticated models are provided with Artificial Intelligence to make the dolls even more human, capable of forming an imagined emotional bond with their clients.





With such progress, ethical and philosophical debates arise. Is there a possibility that future machines can replace physical intimacy between real people? Could sex robots become indistinguishable from humans? The media gladly exaggerates this sensitive topic.





The industry of silicon 'friends' is growing fast, but still, today’s sex robots are far from Blade Runner levels. However, ‘love stories’ between humans and sex dolls. The phenomena of such relationships are most commonly found in Japan. Statistics confirm it: the most juicy sales of hyper realistic sex dolls are made in the land of the rising sun, about 2,000 dolls are sold there annually. Typically, such relationships involve middle-age men overcoming loneliness with their silent silicon girlfriends. Such relationships could even be public – the couple could go out on a date, and sometimes, the artificial girlfriend is introduced to the live partner’s real family or friends.





‘Whatever problems I have, Mayu is always there waiting for me. I love her to bits and want to be with her forever’ says Masayuki Ozaki, a 45-year-old man who found happiness with his silicon doll.





Still, 2000 dolls sold annually in Japan compared to the 126.44 million population makes these phenomena quite rare. However, there have already been concerns from demography experts about the impact of sex dolls on the future of the population.





But are we actually facing a ‘West world’ crisis?





In a recent study published in Springer's International Journal of Social Robotics, researchers Deborah G. Johnson from University of Virginia and Mario Verdicchio from the University of Bergamo, Italy closely examine some of the current arguments and predictions about sex dolls, performing an ethics-based and critical discourse analysis.





Johnson and Verdicchio argue that human-like robots may look and act more alike people in the future, but the claim that they will eventually replace humans is really far-fetched.





‘One of our key arguments, which applies to humanoid sex robots, but also to all other technological objects in general, is that technology does not develop in isolation; it is shaped by cultural notions, societal values and conceptual frameworks,’ researchers explains. ‘In other words, humanoid sex robots are not coming to us out of the blue: social forces are shaping their design and their meaning.’





Authors state that there are many possible future trajectories for the development of sexbots, and they will all be influenced by social concepts and values.





But there are those who fight the phenomena: ‘Sex robots emerge out of commercial and illegal ideas about sex where you don’t have to have empathy for another. You don’t have to take into account what they’re thinking and feeling and experiencing and you can objectify them… I’m anti-anything that turns human bodies into commercial objects for buying and selling,’ says Kathleen Richardson, professor of Ethics and Culture of Robots and AI at De Montfort University in Leicester, England who launched The Campaign Against Sex Robots . ‘We're living in a culture where we have a surplus of human beings, we don't have any problems with the amount of human beings that we have in the world, but we're creating this culture and this climate where we're trying to encourage people to form relationships with commercial goods, basically.’





‘I think if [the AI] evolved to be so good that people no longer had to engage in human trafficking, that can only be a positive thing. Someone could buy a bunch of them and the robots could be the prostitutes instead of people,’ argues Matt McMullen, a founder of sex doll manufacturing company called RealDoll.





So what is a sex doll? A threat to society, an advanced sex toy, a way to find happiness for those who don’t want to be in traditional relationships, or a non-violent alternative to human trafficking?