From fulfilling our fantasies to altering our desires, how far can AI go in sex?

Are you tired of being ghosted on dating apps? Forget humans: now you can look for a partner created with artificial intelligence. There are many advantages to a virtual companion: they care about you and they will always be there to listen and talk to you (as explained by Replika, an app that lets you create a friend using AI); they will not leave you on “read,” take a long time to reply, prioritize themselves over you or forget about you. One possible disadvantage, however — as far as romantic relationships are concerned — is that sexual interaction is going to be somewhat tricky. At least physically. For now.

The topic of sex is censored in certain AI applications. If you start an explicit conversation, say, with ChatGPT, it will be cut short. In Replika, sexual conversations used to be limited to the paid version, but that option is gone, too (perhaps because it had a few problems when some users felt harassed by the application). Specific apps have emerged to meet that need, allowing the user to generate a virtual partner to talk about sex, adapted to each person’s different tastes. One can create a girlfriend or a boyfriend that is shy, adventurous, confident or even a nymphomaniac. There are specific dominatrix AI profiles created to boss the user around and satisfy BDSM fantasies. Taking into account that much of the arousal that comes from this type of practice is mental, this may be a viable option for some people.

“AI systems are based on information provided by developers or users. It is a training, and also a way for the AI results to adjust to what we want to obtain,” explains Lola Fernández de la Torre, a teacher and researcher at the University of Málaga who is studying the application of AI tools in teaching. That is, if a chatbot without prior limitations starts talking to a user about sex, it will end up learning and adapting to that user’s tastes, whatever they may be. “An AI does not judge, as it lacks reasoning; if the user feels judged when the chatbot doesn’t provide the expected result precisely because it is outside their informative reach, that’s a different thing,” she explains. Therefore, faced with peculiar sexual fantasies that might be difficult to share, a person could feel comfortable interacting with a virtual partner that would understand them and adapt to their tastes, as long as they have no any prior limitations defined by their developers.

An AI app that has been trained to favor certain practices and hide others could influence our tastes. This is what futurologist Tracey Follows believes: “If AI can analyze human behavior and find patterns in it, it may also be able to diagnose and even reprogram people toward certain behaviors and desires, or away from others,” she stated in an interview with this newspaper. This can be useful for certain sexual dysfunctions such as erection problems or a low sex drive, but if we go into dystopia mode, it could also have other uses. “Imagine that they socially program usage towards homosexuality instead of heterosexuality, or towards trios instead of couples. Then you could end up with a set of desires that you never thought were part of you, but that have been programmed into you through mental manipulation,” Follows adds. As is already the case with social networks, we would be subject to the company’s rules.

So when can we expect some physical interaction?

Even though talking is more than enough to cause sexual arousal, there may come a time when users seek physical contact. Although some people seem to feel quite comfortable interacting with technology (the official term is “digisexuals”), even more so when they get rid of all the problems that come with human interpersonal relationships, after a while it is necessary to feel the warmth of another’s touch. Or just some physical stimulation to complement the mental arousal.

For the latter, there are erotic toys that adapt to each user by means of their biometric data. According to erotic toy company Lovehoney Group, AI algorithms can be used to create personalized experiences that adapt to individual preferences. This could translate into AI toys that interpret data and develop individual responses based on sensory information, such as body temperature and pulse, to adapt to the user’s needs. For instance, they could notice if a person is having an orgasm and, based on the recorded behavior, know if they should increase or decrease the intensity.

There have always been men afraid of being replaced by their partner’s vibrators. What could happen, then, with the emergence of toys that are increasingly adapted to the tastes of their owners? “It is true; feeling threatened by sex toys in general has been common among men, but lately there is an openness towards the use of different toys in relationships, and it might be a way of introducing a third party that does not imply anything but having a good time,” says psychologist and sexologist Ángela Sánchez de Ibargüen. “Even if a machine may be more pleasurable in terms of bodily stimulation, relationships are rich in the reality of what is happening at that moment, in what we feel and make others feel,” she adds.

In the film Blade Runner 2049, the human-like android K (Ryan Gosling) shares his life with his holographic partner Joi (Ana de Armas). Having physical relations with a hologram is not an easy task, so Joi hires a real woman with whom she fuses so that K can touch her, kiss her and do whatever they need to do. K is interacting with a physical body that, to some extent, looks like his virtual companion. We do not know if things will go that way in the future, but technology is making leaps and bounds. In fact, it is already possible to send and receive hugs online thanks to the haptic technology that recreates the experience of touch. Haptic devices utilize sensors to measure force, temperature and movement, and adapt to the user. A sex robot with this technology, with the adaptation parameters that already exist for erotic toys and with the conversation of a chatbot, has intriguing potential, to say the least.

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