Sex & AI.
Pleasure, Intimacy & moral relativisms in the AI era.
Intro
Robots, Haptics & Sex
Sexual Violence & Big Technology
The Algorithmic Universalisms of AI sex
The Unequal Power Balance of Sex & AI
Intimacy & the Other
The Female Gaze
… Let’s start with toys.
The vibrator, intended as a massage technology, disappeared at the beginning of the twentieth century to reemerge during the 1960s, marketed to consumers, and by the 1970s it was openly sold as a sex aid. My friend, the brilliant designer Tom Dixon, made a vibrator in the 1980s and still happily gets asked to chat about it. He is quick to point out the most important bit of this. He is a man, designing a vibrator for a woman’s pleasure.
[The Bone vibrator by Dixon “is a far cry from the vibrators you’ll find in any adult store.” Made from a 9-inch wedge of hygienic resin in the shape of a hipbone, each Bone is a unique, variable speed, vibrating toy.]
One thing stays constant: Stakeholder number 1 in Sex content monetisation or consumption, virtual, human, bot or not, identifies as: MALE.
Sex in the Era of AI.
I thought this would be an interesting post on the commercial opportunity for haptics and wearables in Sex, Intimacy & Desire..
But as it turns out, I am posting this feeling very conflicted about the fact that AI will actually change sex fundamentally. This includes our ideas of who and how we have sex, how we define sex and pleasure, and what we think sex represents.
If you thought porn on YouTube or the advent of OnlyFans was a gamechanger, you might be in for a (violent) surprise.
Robots, Haptics & Sex
A brief Education on Robots & Sex.
The most recent technological innovations have changed the way we interact, develop relationships, and embody sexuality.
Teledildonics, haptic bodysuits, and gynoids […what! we will come to this later ] are now realities transforming human interactions.
Teledildonics, or cyberdildonics, are sex toys that allow people to have sexual encounters from remote locations.
Enhancing Sexual Experiences with Haptic Tech
Haptic technology is now widely used in medicine.
Surgeons slip on haptic gloves and can operate with robotic precision—virtually! They're training with haptic-enabled simulations that mimic real-life scenarios. Therapists also use haptic devices to help patients regain a sense of touch post-injury. It's like “having superpowers”, except it's science and a lot of smart design involving actuators and sensors.
In education. gaming and entertainment, engineers and developers are crafting wearables that simulate touch sensations for a range of uses . Imagine virtual reality (VR) games where you feel the whoosh of a dragon's flight or the grip of a climber's hold—haptic feedback makes it all more visceral. Even sectors like architecture benefit as designers can 'feel' the textures of materials without leaving their desks.
Haptic feedback has transformed “virtual” sexual experiences by lending a more authentic touch to intimacy acts. Imagine the delicacy of a caress or the intensity of a squeeze, replicated through vibrations and movements within an outfit, a wearable piece of fabric, or even a sex doll.
This isn't just about simulating human features; manufacturers are confident that it's about enriching sexual diversity and catering to an array of fantasies and preferences. Whether it's the firmness of a grip or the gentleness of a stroke, haptic tech in diverse sex toys, including sex robots and sex dolls is the next step on from digital content.
Sex Dolls and Intimate Relationships
Virtual Reality and Haptics will be the next Sex frontier.
Check out, if you like, this easily available Virtual Reality Sex Suit. Feel free to look, but it does gross me out a bit. A robot, a wet suit, and a lot of shuddering.
Relationships and intimacy are undergoing a transformation through sophisticated sex dolls equipped with haptic technology. These innovative companions are not just about visual appeal; they're built to feel real, too.
By integrating tactile sensations into the skin of sex dolls, users can experience the warmth and texture that mimic human contact.
This technology speaks to more than just sexuality; it addresses a human's innate need for connection and the sense of touch, offering comfort and closeness in intimate relationships. A variety of sex dolls with customizable features can be found at customizable companions, enhancing the personal connection between the doll and its owner.
Sexual Violence & Big Technology
In a paper on Consent and Art, Jessica Lu writes that AI (art) theft has parallels to sexualized violence. I found it interesting as one could extend the argument to AI theft of IP, copyright and data in general.
There are certainly direct connections of AI to sexualized violence (e.g. revenge porn, fulfilling sexual fantasies, etc.), but even deeper themes are present.
For instance, how does AI replicate misogyny? How does the creation of AI art decontextualize art from its original meanings? If you put a lot of effort into creating something, how would you feel if someone reaped the benefits of it without your knowledge or consent?
When you take away an artist’s unique ability to create something and give it to a machine, what are you really creating? Aside from the few words you prompt the AI program with, there is no context. Just like how sexualized violence is often weaponised against victims by taking the situation out of context, she argues, the full autonomy of artists is taken away through AI art theft.
Finally, she lays out the parallels of victim blaming. Supporters of AI art often rationalise their standpoint by telling human artists that AI is the future of technology and if they can’t keep up with the competition, it’s their own fault.
Food for thought.
OnlyFans & the degradation of intimacy
OnlyFans, the Uber of Porn, initially received mainstream attention after sex workers began using the site during the COVID lockdowns of spring and summer 2020. The subscription-based platform has since ballooned into a world of its own, where artists, entertainers, sex workers, and others can monetize their influence.
Over the course of the pandemic, as platforms like Instagram cracked down on demon time, OnlyFans became the center for all things adult—and more.
A growing list of celebrities, Cardi B and Bhad Bhabie among them, capitalized on OnlyFans, selling content that, while not completely NSFW, wasn’t available elsewhere.
Pornography will be a massive driver of adoption for AI-generated media (2-D and 3-D). Soon, nearly all adult content consumed online will be AI-generated.
As generative AI multiplies, headlines like “AI-Generated Porn is going to ruin OnlyFans careers'' have become increasingly common. There’s a huge market value in this, and it is now going to be mainstream, OpenAI is considering allowing users to create AI-generated pornography.
No matter where this goes, there is something perverse about the displaced, disconnected normalisation of sex content-streaming of OnlyFans. In the era of Spotify bots, we think nothing of an AI-generated, personalised, on-demand porn star or sex worker.
The Depressing Universalisms of AI sex
Why does this matter? Daniel Faggella is Head of Research at Emerj. Called upon by the United Nations, World Bank, INTERPOL, and leading enterprises. He says that studying generative adult content is vital because of its impending impacts:
Altering human relationships: Human relationships will change radically as sexual arousal and gratification via AI-generated content become normal and socially acceptable.
A stepping stone towards isolated, hyper-personalized experiences: Sexual satisfaction is a “canary in the coal mine” of human drives. When it is satisfied with generative AI, many other drives (relaxation, entertainment, etc.) will follow quickly. The first world will be immersed in isolated, hyper-personal experiences (programmatically generated everything).
The article itself is broken down into the following sections:
Progressive developments of generative AI adult content: How generative AI content will likely evolve from deepfakes and image generation, towards a more completely immersive …
Progressive implications – human sex and relationships: How the societal impacts of AI-generated adult content will progress over time, with attention paid toward how human relationships will change based on relationships with their drives and available technology to stimulate those drives.
Policy considerations: As some changes appear inevitable, the article will offer some policy suggestions to regulate these changes in a way that prioritizes humanity – while still recognizing everything we now consider “sacred” rests on increasingly shakier ground as these technologies advance.
Will this change the experience of Sex forever?
Apparently, yes. Completely.
It will likely remove whatever remaining cultural nuances we may have had in desire and physical intimacy.
Furthermore, people’s desires can and will play out in ways even they never expected. Think about the following.
Morphing themselves into first-person characters that aren’t remotely human
Engaging in acts with organs that humans don’t even possess
Engaging in multiple activities at once
Having experiences in worlds vastly different than our own (different laws of physics, different color palettes, different everything)
The Unequal Power Balance of Sex & AI
The Great Gender divide
This is mostly discussed, designed by and for cis-, mostly likely white, MEN. What about the rest of us?
Source: https://www.statista.com/chart/16959/share-of-the-internet-that-is-porn/
“Female-looking” Robots & Intimacy
A gynoid is a humanoid robot that is designed to be feminine or to mimic the physical appearance of a human female. They are also known as fembots, female androids, or female robots.
Gynoids are common in science fiction art and film, and are becoming more realistic as robot design improves. They are made up of the same main parts as other robots, including sensors, actuators, and a control system.
Some examples of fictional gynoids include: Dolores Abernathy, Alita from Battle Angel Alita, Ruru Amour, Android 18, Aphrodite IX, Arcee, and Armitage III.
Mary Daly's 1978 book Gyn/Ecology discusses the use of technology as a way to oppress women, and how fembots are a product of this. Daly describes fembots as a symbolic female robot that is used to maintain male domination of women.
Experts have varied views about the interactions between humans and robots. In a piece by the writer Gabriela Acha, for Elephant Magazine, we unsurprisingly get another less rosy perspective.
Dr. Kate Devlin, an AI researcher at King’s College London, says that robot-human sexual interactions are likely not solely about sex, but “about history and archaeology, love and biology. It’s about the near and distant future: science fiction utopias and dystopias, loneliness and companionship, law and ethics, privacy and community.
Most of all, it’s about being human in a world of machines.”
This feels like a stretch, but she is very brilliant so I think worth exploring her ideas further.
When asked the question about the robot “Harmony” as an example of a cis straight male view on what sex robots should be?
"Absolutely. This is a market by men for men. These dolls in particular are bought by straight men, and they tend to be in the form of a very reductive stereotype of femininity: narrow waist, big breasts, curvaceous hips, long blonde hair. It's all very Barbie-esque.
"There isn't much diversity and I think it'll remain incredibly niche, partly because they're difficult to make and are so expensive. We're talking upwards of $10,000."
Ai-Da, the “humanoid robot” with her “founder”, Aidan Mellor. “Almost human: The world’s first robot artist in her own words” link.
A few weeks ago, this “AI Robot Artist’s Turing Portrait Fetches $1.1 Million at Sotheby’s”, having been slated to earn $180,000. The robot was inspired by Alan Turing’s and his worries about the role of AI in the society of the future. I wonder if a “male” robot would have fetched the same price.
Bias in Sex & AI
Bias in Sex & AI goes way beyond gender. There is certainly room for everyone in a digital space, then AI creates more room. But those with power are limited in number and huge in influence.
The biggest issue for me, personally? Sex in AI is going to perpetuate existing biases.
To the desires and needs of men
To western ideas of SEX
To capitalism and scalability
To a violent society & mainstream political and sexual culture
To the English language
To the religious shame around SEX.
The English Language
As the above may have reminded us of, the language of the internet is English. And so is the Language of Sex.
When it is about the act of Sex, much of what we find online, and what feeds generative AI models, is violent, and male.
As generative AI runs with the ideas and sexual fantasies which mostly men are searching for online, there is also the perpetuation of content which is designed in a silo.
Elisa Giardina Papa Labor of Sleep (2017). Source: Episode VI. Sex and Desire in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
The work of Elisa Giardina Papa is based on an analysis of these processes. In works such as Technologies of Care(2016), Labor of Sleep (2017), and Cleaning Emotional Data (2020), she addresses the impact of new technologies on gender, sexuality, and work in relation to neoliberal capitalism and postcolonial societies.
Intimacy & the Other.
People with disabilities often face physical, political, and societal barriers in expressing their sexuality.
The lack of inclusivity in the sex toy market does not support an autonomous experience for impaired individuals who cannot operate toys without external assistance.
Lovewear is Haptic Clothing that Allows Intimate Exploration for Movement-Impaired People. It is a collaborative art-science project that combines user-centered design principles with soft robotics integrated into textiles.
The aim is to offer an autonomous experience through haptic feedback, allowing self-exploration of intimate sensations and sexual pleasure to females with motor impairments.
A pillow interface activates an underwear garment: While caressing and touching the pillow, the wearer triggers the underwear’s inflatable actuators. This transdisciplinary project used a mixed-methods research design; the objective is to promote the embedment of technology into everyday garments, to improve the wearer’s quality of life.
The Lovewear project has been partially funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under ST ARTS and Re-FREAM, a research project that invites artists and designers to connect with scientists on common ground to rethink the manufacturing process of the fashion industry.
Madi McCarthy, an associate at private legal firm LK Law, hopes that these dolls will “benefit the older population or people living with disabilities or sex-related anxieties or sexual dysfunction.” These artificial entities look like human beings and can fulfill people’s needs without the burden of having their own. They are convenient presences, because they don’t have wishes of their own, and will, thus, always prioritise their owners, and reinforce their opinions and ideas.
As desirable as this might sound for some, these companion simulators nevertheless are fabricated mainly for sexual purposes, and can be dominated, potentially increasing the risk of sexual violence towards women, McCarthy fears.
Since they are not sentient and have no wishes and do not suffer, they have no legal status; nevertheless they might encourage abusive and unethical behaviours towards real women – rape fantasies are a potential ‘feature’ of these creations, since the robots can be programmed to deny consent.
Professor Tania Leiman, Dean of Law at Flinders University, fears that these sort of interactions could help normalise certain abusive behaviours. Hence, rather than the lethal AI takeover certain tech journalists appear to fear, we might be better off worrying about the ways robots may license us to treat each other. Manufacturers are considering these concerns, but at a slow pace, and the dynamics of socialisation by robots remains a vast, unexplored territory.
The female gaze.
Can A Vibrator Be Art?, innocently proclaims a Vogue headline from last month.
“I will give all the sex toys for the museum’s collection, because it is design,” she said, noting that major figures including Tom Dixon, Sonia Rykiel and Matali Crasset have applied their handiwork to these personal electronic devices. Christine Macel, director of the museum and chief curator of the exhibition.
The catalyst for this is Private Lives: From the Bedroom to Social Media, an “enticing exhibition” at Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris on right now. "Private Lives" explores how intimate spaces have evolved over recent centuries, showcasing everything from famous paintings and design objects to diaries and sex toys.
As we well know, the internet has changed the way we define the word “intimate.
This is Beirut: An Immersive Dive into the Intimate at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris
According to Marcel, the word intime, which anchors the French title: L’Intime. De la chambre aux résaux sociaux is not just about sex (intimate relations) or the body (intimate products). But intime encompasses more than the English translation, intimate.
This is simply one dimension of the show’s up-close-and-personal exploration. While visitors will find evocative Impressionist paintings of women bathing and rows of colourful vibrators tastefully presented behind glass, they will also discover that groovy sofas, blockbuster fragrances, feminist texts, security drones and smartphones contribute to broader ideas around how we carve out and protect our own space and how the objects we surround ourselves with also invariably shape our sense of self.
Intimacy is far classier than straight up sex, they seem to be saying.
The Female form.
Breasts at Palazzo Franchetti, just closed as a major collateral show for the Venice Biennale.
Over the course of 2024, the exhibition, presented by the Italian curator Carolina Pasti, showcased the diverse works of more than thirty emerging and established artists from around the world, spanning the realms of painting, sculpture, photography, and film from 1500 until modern day.
Making the somehow painfully uncomfortable point, “What’s the big deal about Breasts"?
How? A viral press reaction globally.
Instagram shadow-banning the Breasts Instagram account. Repeatedly blocking, removing content, and threatening removal of the account. Check it out yourself and see how you feel.
I find this to be even more extremely weird in an era of ubiquitous sexual content, material, and innovation online, after having written this post !
My Instagram notification, taking down a banner for a panel discussoin on the exhibition, and warning me about sharing content that featured nudity and sexual activity. Oct 2024: @suhairk
The photographs, sculptures and paintings in the exhibition explore how breasts have been understood and represented in art across cultures and traditions. Reflecting on a range of themes from motherhood, empowerment, sexuality, body image and illness, the presentation investigates how breasts act as a catalyst to discuss socio-political realities, challenge historical traditions and express personal and collective identities.
Marcel Duchamp, Prière de Toucher, 1947, Modified readymade: foam rubber breast on velvet mounted paper, 10 cm diameter. (Image credit: Courtesy of the artist and a private collection, London). As featured in the Breasts Exhibition in Venice.
From the 16th century to contemporary times, exploring historical representations to contemporary explorations on the iconography and symbolism of the breasts.
Featuring artists from Marcel Duchamp to Cindy Sherman, Irving Penn to Louise Bourgeois, from Teniqua Crawford to Charlotte Colbert.
Fragment Horizon, Oil and Charcoal on Linen, 70 x 50cm, Teniqua Crawford 2024. Her current body of work explores themes of the feminine and feminine essence. It is focused on abstracted figures in states of stillness, solitude and emergence. Her current work explores the relationship between the female body’s subtlety and fragility and its strength and power.
Enter, the woman-founder
Successful tech entrepreneur Chloe Mackintosh founded and launched the app “Kama: Relationships & Pleasure Education” - a repository of information, content and access to experts in sexual wellbeing - strategically appropriates the language of AI : “The Kama Method works with the body’s natural design to build new neural-pathways for deep states of relaxation, sensuality, pleasure and orgasm. The result is becoming a masterful lover, for yourself and others.”
Education goes hand-in-hand with these products. Chloe Macintosh, Founder/CEO of focused on the science-backed idea that ‘Pleasure is Health’, says: “Kama focuses on the body and addresses all gender and all sexes offering a better connection, better relaxation and helping to beat stress.
“Sex was classified as a vice industry in tech start up. There was strong reaction from the industry not to be associated with that. It sat alongside gambling and some drugs as a vice industry. Porn is the vice. It was a mistake in the wording and meant we couldn’t raise money for investment,” Macintosh says. Sexual wellness became a new category which the market could analyse, identify and scale. If you don’t have a category, then people can’t invest.
“It is an industry created for women by women,” says Macintosh. “There is a practical attention to detail and aesthetics. 20 to 15 years ago dildos looked really big and phallic, now, we have dildos that are very organic and very small, designed by women for women,” she says.
Source: @KamaLab Instagram
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