by JEREMY HSU
Sexuality in the Digital Age can mean sexting on smartphones, hookups through Craigslist and Facebook, and transmitting lewd photos like Anthony Weiner or Brett Favre. But while humans continue to define the do’s and don’ts of online lust, a new generation of computer programs may have already figured it out. Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, a scandal like Anthony Weiner’s doesn’t even necessarily need two humans anymore.
Online chat bots already send come-hither messages to users of social media or dating websites. Video games and online programs also offer virtual girlfriend (or boyfriend) experiences on smartphones and handheld video game consoles. The crude connections may signal a “robotic moment” for society where humans begin turning to artificial intelligence to fulfill emotional needs, said Sherry Turkle, director of MIT’s Initiative on Society and Self.
“I did find people who were interested in artificial boyfriends and girlfriends, in artificial spouses,” Turkle told InnovationNewsDaily. “They were not being ironic. They felt that people had failed them. And that a robot would be a safe choice.”
Virtual lovers
Such “seduction by social robots” forms a key theme in Turkle’s latest book, “Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other” (Basic Books, 2011). She found that some people can desire what robots offer — either in virtual form or as crude sex bots — even if it marks a step below emotional fulfillment with other human beings. [Read More: Top 7 Useful Robots You Can Buy Right Now]
Virtual girlfriends and boyfriends already abound in Japan, where dating simulator games have enjoyed popularity among females as well as males. One young Japanese man even held a real-world, live-casted commitment ceremony with his virtual girlfriend from a dating sim called “Love Plus,” which has sold hundreds of thousands of copies on the Nintendo DS handheld game console since 2009.
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