AI Love You

Developments in Human-Robot Intimate Relationships

As we move headlong through the twenty-first century and into the future, achievements in artificial intelligence (AI) continue at an exponential speed. AlphaGo, AlphaGo Zero, and AlphaZero algorithms have already defeated the best human game players in the world (Silver et al., 2016, 2018). Within this rapid transformation, our relationships with digital technologies—and, consequently, with ourselves—are also undergoing a fundamental transformation. Under this transformation, we are, for the first time in human history, forced into the position of redefining the boundaries of human desire, as technological advancements create new possibilities for human sexuality.

Science fiction writers have long whetted our appetite for wonder. Today, some of our most advanced intelligent machines, their minds equipped with AI and their bodies made from life-like silicon and frubber®, are gradually stepping into our private sphere of life (Nature, 2017). Dreams of “forever in love” and instant sexual gratification have never looked so close to reality as at the present time.

Consider Harmony, the female companion robot made by the Realbotix™ company, whose body and personality can be tailor-made to suit whatever personal needs and sexual preferences we wish see the chapter “Living with Harmony: A Personal Companion System by Realbotix™”) or the hologram girls who can be made permanently available to satisfy their owners’ emotional needs and desires see the chapter “Hologram Girl”).