Are there ethical issues with using sex robots?
I have been reading about artificial intelligence (AI) sex robots. Manufacturers, apparently, find it hard to keep up with demand. I am open-minded, but isn’t this just another way to avoid dealing with the emotions and needs of another person? What are the ethical implications of sex with a robot? AI sex robots are on the way. Today’s state-of-the-art models are little more than talking heads on plastic bodies — like a vibrator that tells you when it’s had enough. But the future beckons, and newer models will be increasingly lifelike, emulating sexual response in ways that are eerily human.
Proponents of AI robots like to talk about guys like Roger. Roger’s wife died five years ago, and he isn’t looking for another long-term relationship. So he buys Sally; she looks 24, with a porno-grade body and empathetic manner. Sally pouts and Sally pants. Google-enabled, she can tell him the weather and tune his TV to Hockey Night in Canada. Sally turns him on, and when he’s had his fill, he turns her off. What, proponents argue, could possibly be wrong with that?
But what about Steve? Steve’s wife is not dead, but, well, she’s put on weight, and her tastes in bed are so vanilla. So Steve buys Katie. Katie is a freckle-faced polymer redhead. Katie was programmed to be “adventurous,” the girl he wishes his wife could be. Katie takes care of needs Steve never knew he had. Meanwhile, his wife becomes lonelier by the day, frightened and bewildered by her increasing isolation. Does this still sound OK?
Or Mike. Mike is a pedophile, who’s managed, so far, to keep his abhorrent urges in check. So Mike buys Robbie, a sweet, eight-year-old boy-toy imported direct from overseas and made of the softest latex. Finally, Mike has an outlet, and Robbie is a very busy little piece of technology. A bot, not a boy, but close enough. For now. Anyone getting queasy?
Or, finally, Daniel. Our Dan is a racist; he simply can’t stand the sight of women in burkas “acting as if they were born here.” So Dangerous Dan buys Sumaira; with olive latex skin and head-to-toe black attire, she represents everything he hates about “those” women. So he keeps her locked in a cage in his basement; every night, he takes her out, strips off those horrible black vestments, and beats her until she screams in artificial agony. Dan gets off on this, but how about you, dear reader? We still cool?
Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest minds of our time, has opined that “creating effective AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilization. Or the worst. We just don’t know.” If a mind like Hawking’s can’t be sure, perhaps we can be forgiven of our own uncertainty.
But this much I know. The best sex in my life has been respectful, loving, joyful and mutually satisfying. It’s hard to imagine applying those words to nookie with a piece of plastic — even a really smart one. And it’s equally hard to see how technology that so clearly objectifies women and children, while enabling the vilest of human behaviour, can be anything other than horrible.
Happy Valentine’s Day.