This month, artificial intelligence expert David Levy released Love + Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships. In the book, he predicts that by 2050, men and women will be enjoying physical and emotional bonds with extremely lifelike, apparently conscious and remarkably suave robots.
Using examples of human-robot interactions from around the world, Dr. Levy - who won the 1997 Loebner Prize for developing conversational software and who earned his PhD with his thesis "Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners" - explains why he thinks artificial beings will soon become a source of real companionship and the object of human desire.
In conversation, Dr. Levy explains how machines will make superior lovers and why men should be nervous, but his wife should not.
Which is harder for people to imagine with robots: sex or love?
The love aspect. Most people seem to acknowledge that there are sex dolls that sell at high prices and people clearly enjoy using them, which is the start of the sexual functioning of robots. Since vibrators sell so well, clearly a male sex doll with a vibrating penis will sell better than one without. But I think people will have to wait until the middle of the century to experience true love with robots because conversation is one of the most difficult problems facing artificial intelligence researchers.
You really think women will make the jump from vibrators to robots?
Definitely. Women will be at least as enthusiastic as men. I believe there are reasons at the moment that women don't buy as many dolls, and it's partly that more men have the disposable income necessary and partly because women feel more embarrassed about having a doll. I think once the publicity for sex robots starts in women's magazines like Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire, women will be queuing up from one end of the country to the other to buy these things.
Won't people be embarrassed to have sex with a robot?
For a very long time people thought masturbation was a terrible sin that brought all kinds of illnesses. But once the medical profession started talking about it in a positive way, and showing that it was actually healthy and normal, attitudes started changing.
Is having sex with a robot healthy and normal?
Absolutely. There are lots of people who find it difficult to find themselves a sex partner. These people are lonely, they're miserable, they may suffer from some sort of psychological deprivation because they're not getting regular satisfactory sex. If large numbers of unhappy people suddenly become happy, it must be good for society in general.
You also suggest that human-robot sex could lead to fewer teenage pregnancies, abortions and sexually transmitted diseases. Do you believe people will choose to have sex with a robot instead of a human partner?
It won't only be people who are lacking a sexual partner. Some people will do it for curiosity, some for fun. If a wife says to the husband, 'Not tonight, I've got a headache,' she could then say, 'Why don't you make it with the robot.' And, traditionally, women worry about their husbands when they go on business trips, but if he's got his robot with him, he doesn't need to go to a nightclub or a strip joint.
You think men would choose not to have affairs if they had R2-D2 in their carry-on?
Some might. What I think will be more likely is hotels will hire them out, just as they're already doing with sex dolls in Japan and [South]Korea. There's a lot of people who pay for sex.
Does the issue of consent come into it at all? Are sex robots anything more than just possessions?
Consent hasn't really come into it much. Would it be rape if your robot said no? If a robot has consciousness, then I believe that how we treat it is important. If we treat a conscious robot in a negative way, then that sends a message that we believe it's okay to treat conscious entities in that way.
You predict that robots will be superior lovers. Doesn't sex require a certain degree of spontaneity?
Spontaneity can be programmed and a robot that contains all knowledge of sexual technique will clearly be a very proficient lover. One problem I do see is that men might feel inhibited or inadequate in some way. If a man knew he was marrying a woman who'd had the most fantastic sex life with a robot before she met him, he might not feel up to the task.
Or he might just try harder.
What he can do is get a female sex robot that can teach him.
Your book says a robot will be able to tell if its partner wants to have sex or just feels like having a glass of wine. If my boyfriend can't make that distinction, how will a robot?
What your boyfriend doesn't have is the electronic monitors for different aspects of your physiology. He can't tell what your heartbeat is, what your temperature is. There all sorts of signs to what kind of mood we're in. As the technology gets more sophisticated, it will be possible for robots to have an even better understanding of our moods.
What does your wife think of your research?
When I first started, she was extremely skeptical about the whole idea of people having emotional or sexual relationships with robots. She thought that anyone who did so would have to be extremely weird. Now that she's read everything, she still believes people would be a bit weird. But she's less of that inclination than before so.
If your predictions about the technology come true, will you be having sex with robots?
I would certainly want to try one just out of curiosity. I don't believe that I would want to keep one for regular interactions because I'm happily married and don't feel the need for one.
And would your wife accept that?
I wouldn't feel like I was cheating on her. We haven't discussed this because it's hypothetical, but I think she would just perceive it as another form of masturbation.
Would you mind if she tried one?
No, no. Why not?