Robo-Polyamory? 25% of Men Okay With Sharing Their Partner With a Sexbot Doppelgänger

Though a similar percentage would consider such an arrangement “cheating”

A recent survey conducted by the online pharmacy ZipHealth revealed one in four of Generation Z male-identified participants wouldn’t be upset if their significant other had intimate relations with a look-alike artificial companion.  

However, nearly a quarter of those who female-identified were less positive, noting they’d consider such a situation infidelity.

Other responses suggested more acceptance of artificial intelligences like chatbots as well as their use in prescribing sex-related treatments such as erectile dysfunction medications. Two percent said they’d developed feelings for an AI chatbot or companion.

Confidentiality and comfort

One thousand people took the ZipHealth survey: fifty-four percent male, forty-four female, and two percent non-binary. Specifically, fifty-two qualified as Millennials, twenty-four as Generation X, sixteen Gen Z, and Boomers scant eight percent.

When asked whether or not they’d be comfortable using ChatGPT for diagnosing or managing health conditions like ED, one in ten reported already having done so, and three in five said they’d trust an AI tool over a doctor to diagnose erectile dysfunction (ED).

Intimacy and arousal

When it comes to AI and relationships, twenty-six percent said they’d already used ChatGPT for relationship guidance, an equal number for “Navigating feelings of loneliness,” twenty-four for “companionship or emotional support” —with thirteen enjoying role-playing and eleven percent using a chatbot to explore “fantasies or taboo topics.”

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While not a large amount, it’s revealing that one in ten would be open to paying upwards of fifty dollars a month to have access to an emotional and/or relationship-supportive artificial intelligence.

A question of relationships

Returning to the ZipHealth survey, though not an overwhelming majority, that one out of four male-identified, Generation Z individuals do not have a negative opinion of basically sharing a partner with a physically identical, albeit artificial copy of themselves is fascinating.

Though disappointingly not asked, we can’t keep from wondering what those who said they’d be open to the experience were precisely thinking of. 

Perhaps an arrangement somewhat reminiscent of a cuckolding situation, with them getting turned on by hearing how well their partner was pleasured by their synthetic doppelganger?

But what if they were envisioning a polyamorous relationship, sharing their partner with their duplicate on a regular basis —or maybe everyone together in a group sex session?

Suppose those agreeable twenty-five percent of 160 Gen Z respondents are amenable to opening their relationship with another version of themselves. Would they extend their excitement to a same-sex encounter as well —or would that be closer to masturbating in the mirror than being intimate with another man?

The mind races, like what they might feel if their partner offered sex with their own synthetic clone. Is their arousal rooted in pleasure-by-proxy or because it might be a way to non-threateningly experiment with non-monogamy?

Cheating raises its head

Conversely, female-identified persons who felt having sex with a manufactured copy of their partner was ethically unappealing touches on another consideration: for how one side of the question appears to reveal newfound openness and a willingness to experiment, there remains what’s arguably a two-step backward belief.

Not to put words or thoughts into the survey takers, it could be likened to how some people negatively view solo masturbation—that it somehow takes something away from their relationship.

Moving ahead

That aside, this small subset of those surveyed demonstrates a surprising candor towards trying new sexual activities and dynamics—including the frankly quite out-there concept of having their partner have sexual relations with replicants of themselves—which may be signs of things to come. 

After all, if these men are willing to expand their sexual consciousness, who knows what new, progressive beliefs could be on the horizon? 

Possibly, even an entirely new generation of people will have moved beyond ideas like possessiveness, objectification, or jealousy—while embracing life and pleasure-affirming beliefs like empathy, intimacy, mutual respect, and joyful experimentation.

Image Sources: Depositphotos