Do you interact with robots? Or will you marry one? Do robots have the right to say no to such things? After Malaysia (the original venue) banned the holding of a parliament with the theme of “love and sex with robots”, the conference was hurriedly rescheduled to be held in London, and these were the few discussions that were raised at the conference.
Facts have proved that these issues are not only controversial to regions with conservative views, but are also issues worthy of discussion in open countries in the West. There were no representatives of the adult products industry at the conference, and no related products were exhibited, which also made some people question the significance of this seminar.
A US company specializing in the production of sex dolls claims that they have released the world’s first sex doll equipped with artificial intelligence. If commercialization is successful, this will prove that the robot expert David Levy’s point of view is correct. He has been prophesying for a long time. The era of companion robots is coming, and in fact, it is true.
In the closing speech of the conference, he explained the development of the intimate relationship between sex dolls, robots, and humans. He said: “We have sex doll companions, and companion robots are a reasonable continuation of this trend.” In the next 10 years, we can use sculpture, 3D, artificial intelligence, and other science and technology to create a one that meets our expectations of our partner. Humanoids-patient, kind, caring, trusting, and respectful.
But such thinking may raise ethical issues, especially since he believes that the law must recognize robots as humans. This may sound far-fetched, but during 2016, a special group composed of representatives from the technology industry, academia, and the government was solving such problems.
As for their rights, there is a simple answer: If the behavior of a sex doll or robot indicates that the owner wants to fall in love, we assume that it agrees.
In the technology industry, there is almost no evidence that current artificial intelligence is manifesting in anything that has nothing to do with humans. Companion robots such as “Little Pepper” and “Little Nao” have human characteristics but look more like friendly toys than highly recognizable humans. And the twin robots made by Professor Ishiguro Hao in his image are often labeled as creepy.
But people do seem to be eager to humanize our realistic sex dolls and robots, such as Amazon’s Alexa and smartphone assistant Siri, which are often anthropomorphized. But you will find that we still have a long way to go before human-like objects can move like humans.
At the seminar, some researchers put forward the field of remote touch, including Teletongue, a device developed by Keio University in Japan to allow long-distance couples to feel the touch of the body. One party touches the device, and then the sound and vibration are transmitted to the other half, who will feel and hear these behaviors.
The Engineering Research Institute, which participated in the organization of the conference, conducted a small survey on people’s attitudes towards humanoids. They only asked 30 members of their laboratory if they were interested in interacting with humanoids. The summed-up answer seems to be that although many people think this is inevitable, few people want to do it themselves.
An audience member summed up the meeting like this: “We can’t agree on the future of sex dolls and robots, nor can we agree on what sex is.” However, relevant people said that this event provided an opportunity for people to think about how the industry might be. Development, and the ethical issues that may arise from it.
If we have a conscious artificial partner, how do we know it is conscious? How advanced will this consciousness be? What responsibility do we have for our work? What do you think of the many problems?
