Future of Sex
tagline
  • Remote Sex
  • Virtual Sex & Entertainment
  • Robots
  • Human Augmentation
  • Sex Tech
  • Dating & Relationships
  • Bizarre Bazaar 18+
  • Future of Sex Community
  • Remote Sex
  • Virtual Sex & Entertainment
  • Robots
  • Human Augmentation
  • Sex Tech
  • Dating & Relationships
  • Bizarre Bazaar 18+
  • Future of Sex Community
  • Machinery of Joy: Is AI Already Making Sexwork Obsolete?

  • Tomorrow’s Programmable Matter Sextoys Will Be Everything We Want—Whenever We Want It

  • Men’s Only Club: Does the Synthetic Companion Industry Really Have a Sexism Problem?

  • Red States, Risqué Secrets: Who’s Really Obsessing Over Sex?

  • No Hentai, Please: Japan Prosecutes AI Porn Prompters

  • Out of Sight, Out of Touch? Sweden Moves to Ban Adult Cam Performers

  • Spin Me Right Round: Cupsland’s Twirl Does Everything A Stroker Should—And More

  • We-Vibe Sextech Report: Talk, Grab a Toy, and Enjoy

Future of Sex is supported by our readers. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Home > Immersive Entertainment > Augmented Reality and the Future of Sex: Enhanced Lovers and High-Tech Dating

Dating & RelationshipsVirtual Sex & EntertainmentImmersive Entertainment
Home›Dating & Relationships›Augmented Reality and the Future of Sex: Enhanced Lovers and High-Tech Dating

Augmented Reality and the Future of Sex: Enhanced Lovers and High-Tech Dating

By Future of Sex
May 3, 2017
7872
2

Could Facebook’s foray into AR help kick-start the tech’s erotic potential?

A woman appears with digital information overlayed in her physical environment.

By Tom Woodley

At Facebook’s annual developer conference last month, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg introduced a new open platform that will allow developers to create augmented reality (AR) filters for Facebook Camera. He also made ambitious predictions for the future.

Want to see sharks swimming in your cereal? How about personalized street art, or meal recommendations from friends on restaurant menus? Using AR, Zuckerberg said, this could soon be possible.

He wants Facebook and partnered developers to create technologies that make AR ubiquitous. AR could even replace household hardware, Zuckerberg argued. For example, we could throw out our TVs in favor of virtual screens. Smartphones might become obsolete, as smartglasses gradually replace their functions.

In effect, Zuckerberg wants Facebook to usher in a new age for everyday technology: an age of augmented reality.

Jaw-dropping erotic possibilities

For some time now, futurists have predicted that virtual and augmented realities will also change how we have sex.

Ray Kurzweil, director of engineering at Google, thinks that we’ll be able to have sex across long distances and change our appearances for others. In an interview with Playboy, he told David Hochman: “You could transmit a more idealized version of your lover, or she may alter how she wants you to look.”

Want your lover to look like Amy Adams or Ryan Gosling? In the future, this will be easily accomplished. When couples are far apart, sex across distances will be possible thanks to wearable haptic and teledildonic technologies that simulate the sensory stimulation of being touched.

Apps like Pokémon Go and Snapchat have already shown a hint of what’s possible with AR. In Pokémon Go, digital images of virtual creatures are superimposed over the real world through smartphones cameras. Using Snapchat, users can change their appearances, adding animal features or digital makeup. Just last week, Snapchat added a new feature that allows users to insert cartoon objects into their pictures.

Overcoming AR’s biggest obstacle

The biggest hurdle for augmented reality is the development of affordable and comfortable wearable tech. Such tech also has to look normal or trendy. As Alasdair Allan writes over at Vice: “Augmented Reality Will Take Off as Soon as it Doesn’t Look Silly”.

Google’s attempt to popularize augmented reality with Google Glasses famously flopped due to privacy concerns and derision for their clunky design. But other companies are now working on, or have released, their own glasses. Unveiled last year, Snapchat’s Spectacles embrace the silly look of wearable tech by making them big, bright, and fun. So far, the glasses just record video, but there’s plenty of speculation augmented reality could be the next step.

Microsoft’s HoloLens, while far from casual wear, features both virtual and mixed reality capabilities, allowing users to play with holograms, make video calls, and explore virtual environments.

Meanwhile, secretive startup Magic Leap has received huge investments from Google and Alibaba to develop glasses that augment reality by projecting a digital light field into the eye. Facebook also hopes to create normal-looking glasses and even contact lenses.

AR and the future of adult entertainment

While big things are predicted for AR and sex, only a few companies have announced related projects. Back in 2010, adult entertainment company Pink Visual showed how someone could fill their environment with erotic images that appeared on a webcam display. Since then, there’s been much more focus on virtual rather than augmented reality.

Nonetheless, the major adult virtual reality film studios see the future as AR. Anna Lee, founder of HoloFilm Productions, believes we’ll eventually be able to look down and see a performer sitting on our laps. CEO of BaDoinkVR Todd Glider adds that viewers will also be able to feel the performer, as if he or she is really in their home.

Startup PrimaVR has shown how this might be possible, releasing adult videos that allow viewers to interact with performers using VR controllers. When a performer is “touched,” her body moves and the controllers vibrate, providing tactile feedback.

Perhaps most promisingly, Ian Paul, chief information officer at adult production company Naughty America, recently stated that the company will be “exploring augmented reality this year.” He didn’t go into detail, but has predicted before that AR will first appear on smartphones.

Waiting for its moment

There is no shortage of potential uses for augmented reality, in the bedroom and out. Imagine being able to look at any physical object and receive information on it. If the technology becomes common, it could also be a way to communicate dating info, including relationship statuses and romantic or sexual preferences. A quick glance at someone could tell you if you have common interests, thanks to a convenient digital overlay. AR could also be used to brighten up urban environments with customizable erotic images.

Perhaps the most exciting, and discomforting, possibility lies in Kurzweil’s prediction that we’ll able to change our appearances, either to enhance certain attributes or to look like someone else entirely. Using AR, it will become easier and safer to experiment, in ways that might be beyond our current ability to foresee.

Will augmented technology be the new big thing? Zuckerberg predicts it will take ten years to develop casual, wearable glasses with both virtual and augmented reality capabilities. But with the number of companies working on glasses that just do one or the other, we could be seeing basic AR even sooner.

Image sources: Nick Smith, Antonio Zugaldia, yash mithwani 

Future of Sex

Launched in 2011, Future of Sex has grown to become the world’s leading publication on how technology is changing human sexuality, today and tomorrow. It provides deep, insightful coverage of the edge of sex technologies and possibilities, including sex robots, remote sex, immersive adult entertainment, human augmentation, virtual sex, as well as dating and relationships.
Previous Article

Sex-tracking Wearables and the Quantified Self

Next Article

Tying a Virtual Knot: Japanese Guys Can ...

Related articles More from author

  • Virtual Sex & Entertainment

    How Adult Entertainment Sites Scale for Massive Demand

    November 1, 2022
    By Ingrid Cruz
  • Dating & RelationshipsRobotsSex TechVirtual SexImmersive Entertainment

    Digital Passions: How We Might Join In Sexual Symbiosis with AI

    January 2, 2025
    By A.R. Marsh, Ed.D.
  • Image of the rise in audio erotica usage
    Remote SexVirtual Sex & Entertainment

    Audio Erotica Is the Hot New Trend in Pornography, and It May Be More Ethical

    August 28, 2020
    By Eva Duncanson
  • Screenshot showing colorful pencils with LOVE letters engraved on dice
    Dating & Relationships

    Touching Issues: Are COVID-19 Virtual Relationships Doomed to Fail?

    January 1, 2021
    By M. Christian
  • Virtual Sex & EntertainmentVirtual Sex

    Add-ons That Allow True Virtual Sex in Second Life

    March 29, 2011
    By Meg White
  • A brunette woman wearing a revealing orange dress lies on her side with an gold awards trophy next to the text AVN Awards 2019.
    Sex TechVirtual Sex & EntertainmentImmersive Entertainment

    Congrats to This Year’s Sex Tech Winners at the 2019 AVN Awards!

    January 29, 2019
    By Future of Sex

Leave a reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • Sex Tech

    Vagina-On-A-Chip Could Revolutionize Sexual Health

  • Remote SexSex Tech

    Kiiroo’s New Pearl3 Vibrator: Where Innovation Meets Intimacy

  • Dating & RelationshipsSex Tech

    Eye of the Tiger: Why Furries Have a Fabulous Future

Virtual Lust is a 3D interactive sex game.
3DXChat
Discover the best virtual sex parties and 3D sex worlds.
  • TOP REVIEWS

  • Screenshot of a sexbot from adult entertainment game

    The Best Adult Games on Steam [UPDATED]

  • Screenshot of FeelConnect app future of interactivity intimacy available on Apple and Google Store

    The Best Sex Game Apps for Couples [UPDATED]

  • Project QT is the most popular RPG sex game at hentai sex game portal Nutaku.

    The Best RPG Sex Games [UPDATED]

  • Multiplayer Online Sex Games

    Review of the Best Massively Multiplayer Online Sex Games

    0
  • Harmony ai sex doll from RealDoll

    State of the Sexbot Market: The World’s Best Sex Robot and AI Sex Doll Companies ...

Fantasy sex game Dream Sex World lets you explore your wildest desires.
Multiplayer sex world Red Light Center continues to impress with its massive userbase and incredible sex graphics.
A blonde and light-skinned love doll face sppears next to the text Go now realdollxthe future is real.

Like Us on Facebook

Newsletter Subscription

Sign up for our monthly newsletter sharing the very best of the future of sex from our publication and others across the web.

DreamSexWorld offers a stunning XXX 3D world filled with incredibly interactive erotic experiences.

Like Us On Facebook

Facebook Pagelike Widget

RLC_ad_v2

Tweets by @FutureofSex
Future of Sex Report

Follow us

  • Home
  • About
  • ADVERTISE
  • Contribute
  • Story Ideas
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
© 2011 - 2022 Future Exploration Network
This website or its third-party tools use cookies to improve user experience and track affiliate sales. To learn more about why we need to use cookies, please refer to the Privacy Policy.

By clicking the agree button or continuing to browse through the website, you agree to the use of cookies. Accept Privacy Policy
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
SAVE & ACCEPT