Growing concerns about AI in adult entertainment

Later this month, people in Berlin will be able to book an hour with an AI sex doll after the world's first cyber brothel has completed a testing phase.

Customers will be able to interact with the AI ​​doll not only physically but also verbally.

“Many people feel more comfortable sharing private matters with machines because machines don't judge,” said Philipp Fussenegger, founder and owner of Cybrotel.

“Previously, there was a lot of interest in voice-acted dolls, but users could only listen to the voice and interact with the doll. Now, there is even more demand to interact with artificial intelligence.”

This is just one of the many ways generative AI is being used in the adult entertainment industry.

According to SplitMetrics analysis, the AI ​​companion app has been downloaded 225 million times on the Google Play Store.

“We hope that more app developers will take notice of this trend and consider how they can further innovate and monetize this space,” said Thomas Kliebelnegg, general manager at SplitMetrics.

Misha Rykov, a privacy researcher at Mozilla's Privacy Not Included guide, said AI companions could be beneficial.

“Given that most chatbots are paid and the core technology is developed elsewhere, [such as Open AI]”At first glance, it seems like a high-margin business. And these apps often collect personal data and share it with third parties, including advertisers. It's a proven business model.”

But the intersection of AI and the adult entertainment business is raising alarm bells.

One problem lies in the biases inherent in generative AI, which generates new content based on the data it was trained on.

Dr Kelly McInerney, senior research fellow at the Leverholm Centre for Future Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, says there is a risk that outdated gender stereotypes about sex and pleasure could be embedded in sex chatbots.

“It's important to understand what datasets are being used to train sex chatbots. Otherwise we risk replicating ideas about sex that downplay women's pleasure and ignore sex outside of heterosexual intercourse.”

Rykov said AI chatbots target lonely people, especially men, and that they pose a risk of becoming addictive.

“Most of the AI ​​chatbots we investigated could be highly addictive and pose several potential harms, especially for users with mental health issues.”

Mozilla has added content warnings to some of its AI chatbots “due to themes of abuse, violence and underage dating we found,” Rykov said.

He also raised the issue of privacy, saying the Partnership chatbot is designed to collect “unprecedented amounts of personal data.”

Lykov added that 90 percent of the apps Mozilla reviewed “may share or sell personal data,” and more than half of the apps do not allow users to remove it.

But others warn of the dangers such AI poses to real-world relationships.

Tamara Whiton, senior practice consultant at counselling service Relate, points out: “Some difficulties may arise if real-life encounters don't match the strictly defined requirements that users experience in AI porn, leading to deep disappointment.”

Wheaton added that in some cases AI porn could lead users into dangerous territory.

“There's nothing wrong with a little fantasy and many people get turned on by thoughts they have no intention of acting on. AI porn may be seen in that way.

“If a user's experience with the compliance of an AI object leads to, say, an assumption of consent, a sense of entitlement, or a perception that everyone is aroused, then that's a problem.”

Companies using AI in the adult entertainment industry acknowledge that caution is needed, but they also argue that AI has an important role to play.

Philip Hamburger, head of AI at Lovehoney, said the company's “aim to enhance, not replace, our customers' sexual experience, and this is an important line to draw.”

Some believe AI will have a positive impact on the sector: Ruben Cruz is co-founder of Barcelona-based The Clueless Agency, which created one of the first AI influencers, Aitana Lopez.

He points out that the sex industry will always exist, and says AI could help mitigate ethical concerns by ensuring content isn't created using real people.

“This change is intended to ensure that in the future, no one – male or female – has to be blatantly sexualized.”