As sex robots become more sophisticated and go beyond being a sex toy, academic have expressed concern that with its artificial intelligence, it could be used for spying. A gathering of robotic experts in December in London would tackle the issue of the possible impact of pleasure robots on the lives of owners.
It would be held at the Goldsmiths University in London, Express reported. It was originally scheduled to be held in Iskandar, Malaysia, but the predominant Islamic country banned the event which would be held on Dec. 19 and 20.
The Love and Sex with Robots Conference would have 16 doctors and professors who would discuss related topics such as robot emotions, teledildonic and intelligent electronic sex hardware. The chairs of the conference are Professor Adrian David Cheok, director of the Mixed Reality Lab; Dr. Kate Devlin, senior lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London; and Dr. David Levy, author of “Love and Sex with Robots.”
Devlin explained, “Our research aims to carve a new narrative, moving away from sex robots purely defined as machines used as sex objects, as substitutes for human partners, made by men, for men,” Breitbart quoted. She said that since a machine is a blank slate, it would be what humans make of it. Devlin added now is the time for new approaches to artificial sexuality. Cutting-edge research in technology and ethics is important to reframe idea and human-tech relationship.
Levy said it is not a question whether it is better to have sex with a robot or with a human being. The question is if it is better to have sex with a robot or no sex at all. He pointed out, “In the case of teledildonics, I see the products as increasing the sexual possibilities between humans, not decreasing the desire for human-human sexual contact.”
Conference organizers invite paper submissions to be compiled into a special issue of the Computer Science journal. Admission price for the general public is £200 and £125 for students.