Our synthetic companions may soon be able to feel us—emotionally as well as physically

In the quest to develop emotionally intelligent robots, input matters. After all, how could an artificial intelligence ever hope to understand us if it can’t sense the world around it like we can?

In this spirit, Saptarshi Das, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State, has decided to focus his research on artificially replicating our sense of taste.

With a goal, as he puts it in a recent university press release, to see “How could we bring the emotional part of intelligence to AI.” 

Tasting the flavors of life

To accomplish their task, Das and his colleagues developed tiny chemical sensors that were able to locate and identify specific molecules emanating from samples of food.  

Once detected, they were interpreted by a complex algorithm just as our taste buds send neurochemical signals to our minds.  

Das’s system can currently recognize five basic tastes: salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and umami. With some refinements, Das says they may be able to train an artificially intelligent wine taster superior to any human wine taster and who’ll never get tired—or drunk. 

What is emotional intelligence?  

According to Psychology Today, emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and identify emotions in others.  

It generally involves three factors: the identification of specific emotions, the ability to use them for problem-solving, and managing their effects—including reacting to other people’s emotions.

A CMSWire article explains, “Emotionally intelligent AI refers to AI systems that can understand, recognize, and respond to human emotions. This is a challenging task, but it is one that is essential for creating AI systems that can truly interact with humans in a natural and meaningful way.”

Does input from the five senses equal emotions? 

While current-generation artificial companions can see and hear, their ability to touch, taste, and smell currently remains limited.  

But that is steadily changing. Just as Das and Yoshikazu Kobayashi in Japan and Jung Seung Lee in South Korea are developing synthetic taste components, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne have created a soft, stretchy skin fitted with sensors allowing AI-driven robots to sense when they touch or are touched.  

While progress in building synthetic senses is being made, we’ve yet to see a system capable of integrating the full range of human senses. However, that might change in the not-too-distant future as more and more work is done in the field. 

Tasting tomorrow’s pleasures

Having access to something akin to biological senses could theoretically help AI-equipped synthetic companions develop something akin to lifelike human feelings.  

If so, we might be able to share our lives with emotionally intelligent sexbots that can identify not just our physical needs but our emotional ones as well—and through this, may also encourage both humans and synthetics alike to be better, more sexually fulfilled people. 

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post How Synthetic Senses Might Help Future Sexbots Develop Emotional Intelligence appeared first on Future of Sex.

Understanding how compatibility systems work can play a crucial role in finding a companion

It’s pretty common knowledge current dating sites use sophisticated algorithms to aid in determining potentially good matches. With that in mind, understanding how they work might help you evaluate their efficacy and increase your chances of finding the right person 

As someone who once used mind-numbingly boring statistics to develop algorithms, let me see if I can explain what they are, how they work, and how they affect your dating odds without making your eyes cross.

A short history of dating algorithms

Florian Schroeder explains that “The use of algorithms to predict romantic success is not entirely new. Mathematical approaches to matchmaking emerged in the 1960s, when researchers began creating algorithmic compatibility models based on psychological theories of what makes relationships work.” Primitive early algorithms primarily matched people on demographics and a few interests. 

For example, Match.com began using what, at the time, were relatively primitive algorithms in 1995. Five years later, eHarmony joined in their use. 

How modern dating matchmaking works

Algorithms, at heart, consist of an equation. The solution to the equation yields a compatibility index. These equations only work with good data. The programmer and statistician mantra remains, Garbage in, garbage out.

According to Woz U, a learning platform founded by Steve Wozniak, “—dating apps also use behavioral data such as a user’s swiping and messaging patterns to refine their matchmaking algorithms.” Swiping, poking, or emailing tells the AI that a match meets your approval (or doesn’t). The app then suggests similar matches.

Supposedly, this allows the matchmaking equation to improve the more activity you engage in onsite. Linked social media provides additional data points for some equations. 

A competitor can get a jump start on their algorithm by stealing an existing algorithm, so, as Schroeder adds, “—the details of proprietary algorithms are closely guarded secrets—” In the end, all a person or organization can say is how the person thinks an equation works based on how that person would go about making matches.

Potential problems of matchmaking equations

Theoretically, the more data points in the equation, the better the match. In real life, however, computer time and computing power limit the number of data points in an equation. So, companies make educated choices about what to include.

In addition, many of the questions on your profile do not correlate strongly with matchmaking success. Having infinite data points that have nothing to do with attraction predicts no better than chance. 

According to Eli Finkel and his research partners, “No compelling evidence supports matchmaking sites’ claims that mathematical algorithms work – that they foster romantic outcomes that are superior to those fostered by other means of pairing partners.” Finkel also mentions that unquantifiable something—call it chemistry—that causes sparks and can’t be reduced to a data point.

Algorithms develop racial and other biases if not monitored closely. According to Wired Magazine, “Dating apps like Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble use “collaborative filtering,” which generates recommendations based on majority opinion. Over time, those algorithms reduce human choice and marginalize certain types of profiles.” 

Jevan Huston, a researcher at Washington University, further explains, “Dating platforms have the opportunity to disrupt particular social structures, but you lose those benefits when you have design features that allow you to remove people who are different than you.”

Poor matches also happen when the number of people who match your compatibility scores hits the bottom. In my experience, some match services that advertise as matching gays and lesbians, such as eHarmony and Match.com, have such small pools to choose from in any one area that the matches perform poorly.

According to the Pew Research Center, “Roughly seven in ten online daters believe it is very common for those who use these platforms to lie to try to appear more desirable.” This false information throws the matchmaking equations off and results in poor matches. 

Now for the good news

On a positive note, the equations used by dating apps may be close enough to help find someone compatible. Even though some of the information used in dating equations may not be correlated with long-term happiness, their equations may still be effective. 

In a research study done by Liesel Sharabi, “Findings suggested that whether algorithms actually worked mattered less than whether participants had the perception that they worked for finding a partner. Moreover, participants reported better first dates to the extent that they believed in the efficacy of the compatibility matching process.” 

In the end, it’s clear dating sites and apps significantly reduce the time necessary to find everything from casual to long-term relationships.  The only question remaining is how efficient they could get with the right algorithms put in place.

Who knows, maybe in the next few years, finding an ideal partner or merely the right person for right now won’t take days, weeks, or hours but faster than we can say “swipe right”?

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Cracking the Code of Love: Navigating the Intricacies of Dating Algorithms appeared first on Future of Sex.

In 25 years, will the best sex of your life be with an artificial companion?

According to a recent Daily Star article, artificial companions are developing rapidly. They can already use AI to converse with their owners. 

While obviously engaging in more than a little hyperbole, it also claims in 25 years, sexbots will be so realistic as to be indistinguishable from humans.  As the article says, to where they’ll “give you the best sex of your life.”

But are sexbots capable of such realism already on their way?  

Are lifelike sexbots coming too soon? 

People have been talking about technology replacing humans since the Industrial Revolution.  According to Manufacturing and Logistics IT, while some jobs have been lost to artificial intelligence, they are usually tasks that require precise, repetitive actions.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider my sex life in any way, shape, or form to be mechanical.  

When I was a kid, I watched The Jetsons on television.  The vision of the future included Rosie the Robot, who functioned as a caregiver, nanny, and housekeeper for the Jetson family.  

So, I naturally inferred that by the time I was an adult, the future would look like robots, flying cars, and other incredible things.  I’m still waiting, so excuse me if I’m skeptical about hyper-realistic sexbots coming sooner rather than later.

While AI is still widely unregulated, the official alarm drumbeats seem to be increasing.  Companies have removed the NSFW aspects of common chatbots to avoid regulation.  

President Biden’s executive order seeking to regulate the AI industry doesn’t seem to take into account the sexually explicit content that might be necessary to successfully train super lifelike artificial companions.  

RECOMMENDED READING: Erotic Chatbots in the Crosshairs: The Possible Implications of Biden’s AI Executive Order

It certainly does not protect the end user from unwanted modifications to their artificial companion’s programming, like AI subscription systems currently being sold by sexbot manufacturers like RealDoll.  

Overreaching government regulations would clearly have a chilling effect on the use of machine learning to mimic human behavior–in turn, making it difficult for small, innovative sexbot manufacturers by making it more difficult for them to use AI to train their products.  

On a side note, even if lifelike sexbots are successfully developed, I would want to have a contract with the company requiring them not to modify my bot’s NSFW aspects without my permission or risk losing what I loved about my artificial companion in a keystroke. That is to say, users need more power over their AI companions, though it seems like that’s not how things are shaping up.

Would a hyper-realistic sexbot be so bad?

Assuming that robotics races ahead as fast as the Daily Star claims, I don’t see a problem with hyper-realistic sexbots. If someone enjoys sex dolls and can afford them, there is no reason for them not to get one. 

Even now, the top-of-the-line sex dolls retail for over $7,000.  With that in mind, it is likely that a robot capable of having sex better than a human would be out of reach for most people for several years after being fully developed.  So, most of us will still need a human for sex for the foreseeable future–at least for some things.

Sex toys have been around for a long time. For example, a 2,000-year-old phallus scientists think was used as a dildo was found in Britain.  Meanwhile, German researchers have a stone one that’s approximately 28,000 years old.  

I’m sure more than a few ancient Romans complained about sex toys overshadowing sex between humans—which, as we now know, hasn’t happened.

Why the constant hand-wringing over AI-powered sex dolls?  I argue it isn’t sexbots that are the problem.  It’s the sex part.  

Apparently, some people want to regulate sex according to their various beliefs.  Fortunately, so far, at least, the sex-positive movement has managed to claw back many of our sexual rights which were threatened by those who view anything related to healthy, enjoyable sex as somehow bad. As long as we work toward a sex-positive regulatory environment for AI, the prospect of hyper-realistic sexbots remains–even if the technology takes longer than 25 years.

Image sources: Depositphotos

The post Will Sexbots Become Indistinguishable From Humans?  Maybe, Maybe Not appeared first on Future of Sex.