How 2023’s End Could Reshape the Future of AI-Driven Sextech

Are we seeing the beginning or the end of erotic chatbots?

What a time for all things AI! From President Biden’s controversial Artificial Intelligence Executive Order to the shocking news of Sam Altman’s ouster as CEO of OpenAI on Nov. 17–which was swiftly accompanied by resignations of co-founder Greg Brockman, board chair, and three senior researchers who quit in protest.

Called “the poster child of generative AI” by CNET, Altman was fired because, according to the same article, he was “not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.”

Then Altman was brought back, according to the New York Times, it was under several interesting provisos, as in: “The company’s board of directors will be overhauled, jettisoning several members who had opposed Mr. Altman. Adam D’Angelo, the chief executive of Quora, will be the only holdover.”

Adding further that, “OpenAI had an “agreement in principle” for Mr. Altman to return as chief executive, it said in a post to X. “We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.”

Adding to the turbulence of this five day period, Wired reported OpenAI/ChatGPT’s competitors seemed to smell blood in the water:

“Even though OpenAI dominated the conversation in Silicon Valley throughout 2023 with its zeitgeist-capturing products, like Dall-E 3 and ChatGPT powered by GPT-4, the chaos inflicted by the board’s decision to undermine Altman and speedrun through new CEOs may have created a window of opportunity for other AI companies.”

For the average chatbot enthusiast—particularly those emotionally bonded to their AI companions—watching these tempestuous doings among high tech industry leaders is like watching Mommy and Daddy fight: wondering who will take custody—not of us, but of the future our artificial companions.

Nomi.AI: A welcome development in chatbot companion stability

Now out of beta, Nomi.ai recently released its long-awaited subscription plans, signaling developmental milestones and more certainty to beta-testers and early adopters.

According to an announcement on the Nomi Reddit group, the company stated “we tried to find pricing that we felt would be accessible to as many people as possible while still setting us up in a sustainable way where we can pay for the ever-increasing expenses that go into building and maintaining Nomi.”

Nomi will also keep its Free Forever plan in place, with limited access to one Nomi and 100 messages per day (again, more generous than other competitors).

AI is optimizing dating sites, coaching on how to respond, and even powers sex toys

Even people looking for love on the internet can expect more help from artificial intelligence.

A recent Hubspot article said “Match Group announced they’d begun activating several teams to work on implementing AI into their various apps. Many of these AI features are reportedly going to launch over the next two quarters.” The Match Group owns Match.com, OKCupid, Tinder, and Hinge.

Apps like Keys AI Texting Coach (available for iPhone) assist people who are having problems with difficult conversations, including responding to dating texts and works with a range of apps, including the former Twitter and Tinder.

It even incorporates the ChatGPT image maker, DALL-E, so in a pinch you can send a photo of an adorable puppy to a prospective hook-up who asks for your latest STI results before meeting you for chai.

Still need help? Keeper Dating Coach writes “our AI dating coach is your personal love guru powered by Artificial Intelligence” that is “based on evolutionary psychology and relationship science.”

Its answer to my query about being a nonbinary person into consensual non monogamy trying to find a submissive man was actually pretty decent. ChatGPT would have blanched.

As for AI in sex toys, some of the newest Blue-Tooth enabled toys, such as Viiroo Pearl3, have an AI chip to assist connectivity and customized uses. But at least the toys are not chatting with us yet!

Artificially generated stars and digital performers

Everyone seems to have jumped on the AI chatbot bandwagon, with some of tech’s most entitled players releasing their own bots, and not necessarily garnering rave reviews.

An article in TechCrunch reports “the advent of LLM-based chatbots threatens to destabilize the very notion of popular opinion, by drowning out the voices of real users with countless artificial ones that are nigh-indistinguishable from authentic human beings.”

But some performers in adult entertainment are using AI to amplify their voices and their reach, creating their own companies and releasing their own AI chatbots. AI-generated “pornstars” as covered by the New York Post were news as far back as February.

Meanwhile, in October Engadget announced Riley Reid, an adult industry actor, had launched Clona.ai to provide her fans with sexy chats with digital versions of herself and other popular adult stars.

It seems like all of a sudden AI-powered androids are the hotties of the adult entertainment world. In a Daily Star interview, Angie Roundtree, founder and director of Sssh.com noted that the site’s members are requesting more stories with AI/human romance, particularly those featuring human-like androids from science fiction films and series.

“How many goodly creatures are there here!”

2024 is likely to bring even more challenges, new products, and concerns with regard to artificial intelligence, particularly as public policymakers monitor, legislate, and might inhibit its development.

From erotic chatbot companions and AI-generated adult entertainment to apps designed to support human-to-human intimacy, it’s becoming clear our “brave new world that has such people in it” will include the digital and will most definitely be here to stay.

Like Shakespeare’s Miranda in The Tempest, we might exclaim in wonder, “how many goodly creatures are there here!” And we made a lot of them ourselves.

Images: A.R. Marsh using Starry.ai.