Are they really right around the corner, or are they still decades away?

Continuing our Future of Sex Expert Series, we invited Bjorn Johnsson of Lux Botics to offer his opinion on the question: What is the timeline for realistic humanoid robot companions?

Bjorn Johnsson—Founder, Lux Botics

One of the main challenges in achieving a generic, mass-produced, realistic adult humanoid robot is the fact that most clients want a high degree of customization. 

This customization can range from physical appearance to special functions, making it difficult to create a one-size-fits-all solution. Full-sized humanoid robots are expensive to develop, so the final price tag is similar to a car. At these price levels, it is understandable that the customer will want customizations. 

We have had a customer who wanted 24 sensors distributed in specific locations in the robot’s body. Another customer wanted a realistic heartbeat, both in terms of a physical heartbeat and the sound of a heartbeat. Many of these special wishes cannot be added after a robot is completed, so they must be added while putting the robot together. 

With so many different wishes, it is, therefore, very difficult to pre-manufacture and mass-produce a generic doll and hope that’s what the customer wants. So we have found this is the biggest challenge and therefore we are only getting orders on one-off fully customized robots.

While we already produce custom-made (one-off, 1-1 customer) adult humanoid robots, the timeline for a mass-produced generic, realistic adult humanoid robot companion remains uncertain; we are confident that continued production process advancements will bring us closer to this goal.

Image Sources: Lux Botics

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Hoping for the best—while still considering the worst

Presenting the newest in our long-running Future of Sex Expert Series; for this installment, we invited a world-renowned author and a highly respected activist to give their opinions on the question: “What might the queer community look like in 2035?”

Felice Picano—Whose Classic Memoir, Ambidextrous, Is Back In Print

What I see is Millennials and other young people who will be older people in 2035 interacting about 90% of their time with the phone screens. They don’t see other people, except as annoyances to their screen images. 

They don’t see their surroundings as anything even as real as landscape, merely a bunch of steps to walk through while on their screens. I’m not sure how they even perceive other people close up—if at all. 

Therefore there won’t be dating, won’t be romance, won’t be sex, won’t be marriage, won’t be families with children—they all interfere with screen time.

That being so, my prediction is that Sex in 2035 will be pretty much as it has always been with those above a certain age. And with those below that line it will be entirely electronic—screen to screen.

That being the case, the recently predicted population peak will be reached around 2090 and little by little human beings will disappear from the earth.

JD Terrapin—Mentor, Peer, Parent, And Hope Sharer

I look at my body, a shell, an encasement of soul. The year 2035 and my age is half a century. The war on gender and expression has peaked and made advancements such as the first trans woman having a live birth just a few years before seem like wistful dreams. 

The men were enraged when a person assumed female at birth won the Olympics as a gentleman wrestler. Where in all these miracles did we forget to advance the social realms? 

A man is a man but only if he can prove it? A woman is a woman only if she gives up her autonomy by virtue of birthing anatomy?  

It’s 2035 and there is still no room for them like me.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Experts Ponder What LGBTQ2+ Life Might Be Like Ten Years Hence appeared first on Future of Sex.

“They want simple, palatable solutions for everyday problems, not luxury escapism.”

Advancing our mission to provide our readers with the most up-to-date information on the state of sex and technology, we’re proud to add Natasha Marie Narkiewicz, head of communications and sexual wellness expert of MysteryVibe, and previously one of our managing editors, to our acclaimed Sex Expert Series.

Natasha Marie Narkiewicz – Sexual wellness expert, head of communications at MysteryVibe

“While most companies may be looking to the future for new breakout technologies and innovations, the real opportunity is in creating practical and tangible solutions for underserved areas at the intersection of women’s health and sexual health.

“2022 and 2023 were a buzz with AI technology and all the ways this cryptic, revered, and feared acronym would appear in our lives and influence our intimacy. From high-end sexbots to erotic chatbots like Replika and interactive VR porn, the sex tech industry has lived up to its reputation of early adoption and discovery. However, like all larger-than-life trends, the pendulum swings. 

“The sentiment surrounding 2024 seems marked by AI and tech fatigue. Interest in adopting enigmatic technologies has plateaued and consumers seem disengaged from the AI hype. Instead, there is renewed interest in addressing the sexual issues that directly affect our physical bodies with science-backed solutions, specifically those stemming from menopause. 

“By 2030, the world population of menopausal and postmenopausal women is projected to reach 1.2 billion. Approximately 55% of menopausal women experience sexual dysfunction, such as low sexual desire, poor lubrication, dyspareunia, genitourinary syndrome, and vaginal atrophy. The most advanced menopause treatment is hormone therapy, which has many inevitable side effects and is incredibly costly and inaccessible to the average person.

“These numbers become much more depressing when you see that: 

• 70% of women are not receiving treatment for menopause symptoms. 
• 77% of women were uncomfortable seeking medical attention 
• 42% didn’t know treatment options were available. 

“These statistics indicate a real need for more sexual health and intimacy solutions for women. The sex tech industry has a real opportunity to capitalize on a natural biological occurrence that has historically been overlooked due to gender bias, lack of funding, awareness, and ageism. 

“The 2024 McKinsey report indicates that one of the top wellness trends is embracing doctor-recommendation and science-backed solutions as a shift away from influencer “health-washing” on social media platforms that often present misleading information to sell. The emphasis on science-backed solutions shows that people want fact and vetted information, not sensationalism. They want simple, palatable solutions for everyday problems, not luxury escapism.

“Sex tech could lead the way in creating a profitable ecosystem that treats systemic issues related to menopause with tangible tools and technologies that are backed by science. Sexual health and technology companies like MysteryVibe have been leveraging input from leading doctors and the results from clinical trials to create vibrators that are medically rated to treat sexual issues that come alongside menopause, such as vaginal dryness, vaginal atrophy, and female arousal disorder.

“Other sex tech companies have the opportunity to galvanize the wave of women who will be seeking real technologies in the not-so-distant future, whether these technologies are app-based, wearables, repurposed sex toys, or something entirely novel.”

Image Sources: MysteryVibe

The post The Pendulum Swings:  MysteryVibe’s Sexual Wellness Expert Talks Importance of Women’s Sexual Health Solutions appeared first on Future of Sex.

Writers share their thoughts on what erotic pleasures the future may hold

Part of our ongoing Future of Sex Expert Series, we recently contacted seven of today’s highest-regarded erotica, science fiction, and—combining the two—erotic speculative fiction authors, asking them to give us their thoughts on the question, “What will we be surprised about by sex in 2040?”

Marilyn Jaye Lewis, writer of erotic fiction and nonfiction 

“A return to the awareness that sexual energy is the Supreme Creative Force, always yielding “something from nothing.” Whether by creating life, creating ecstasy and joy, or art in all its many forms. We’ll have a renewed conscious use of the mind and body’s blend of vibrational frequencies at the cellular level, creating limitless communication throughout the body, including the use of the body’s own vibrational frequency as a dependable form of personal birth control. We’ll see an increase in sexual well-being by removing any current dependencies we have on artificial interruptions of the mind/body’s sacred sexual energetic flow.”

Ralph Greco, Jr, professional writer/musician

“As I always do when it comes to matters of technology/future casting/human evolution, I’ll answer from two different perspectives:

“1) One, we will continue to make the most of our inventions: curing diseases, increasing chances of digital interaction, and fixing physical limitations leading to closer intimacies between people. The surprise will be how wonderful life grows every day in regard to our sex lives.

or—

“2) We will to spin out of control, decreasing the amount of human-to-human interactions, invent more virulent strains of diseases that by 2024, we will see a decrease in population from something we unleash (be it rampant overuse of AI, actual versus what we create, or the ennui gripping us now) making this question moot as there won’t be enough of us to care. The only surprise regarding sex will be how we lasted as long as we did before the planet simply shrugs our existence off like the little bug annoyance we have always been.

“I personally am betting on #2.” 

Nobilis Reed, creator, producer of Nobilis Erotica

“I think a lot of people will be surprised by how little has changed in twenty years.

“All sorts of things around sex are going to change. Advances in robots and AI will be monumental. There will be changes in society, from gender roles to media to laws and customs. In the end, though, what will surprise us most is the resilience of the basic human needs for touch, pleasure, and physical intimacy. There may be many changes to how we go about getting there, but once we’re skin-to-skin, things won’t change much at all.  Not as long as we’re human.”

Ernest Hogan, author of Guerrilla Mural Of A Siren’s Song: 15 Gonzo Science Fiction Stories

“The fact that there is a New Prudery among the young at the same time as an aversion to pubic hair and streaming services have commercials for newfangled gadgets for shaving vulva and testicles. Beyond the most far-out spec fic of the Seventies.” 

Dani Brown, author of erotica, bizarro, and horror fiction

“I think we’re going to see less relationships and less sex (even a one-night stand is a relationship if only for that one night). Hear me out, though. 

“While people aren’t looking, the technology is going to become more advanced and better. They’ll get curious. They’ll try it out and realize they can program their perfect partner and connect with the cyber world more so than now. Chatbots are still clunky, but so weren’t smartphones 16 years ago. 

“We’re going to start seeing and using more immersive technology, and it is going to get better. With a combination of immersive technology and real-world objects delivered straight to your door, everyone is going to spend more time in the virtual world than with real people. Maybe they’ll connect to real people that way, or maybe it’ll be all AI? But what it’ll amount to is less physical real-world sex. Why travel and leave the comfort of your own home when you can have all your sexual fantasies fulfilled in your front room?”

Sally Bend, author and editor of diverse, sex-positive romance and erotica

“By 2040, I suspect we’ll be bored with the pleasures of sex dolls, robots, and AI-fueled partners. We’ll be done with experimenting with artificial lovers to explore our darker, guiltier pleasures. What I think we’ll be surprised by is a rebound effect, one that propels us back into human intimacy and one-on-one relationships that are as much about emotional attachment as physical pleasure. Having had our outlets for experimentation, we’ll know what we like—and what everybody else likes—and in an era where nothing is truly private, there will no longer be any need to hide or hold back. 

“We’ll see relationships that cross genders, ages, races, body types, abilities, augmentations, and more. Having already explored (and shared) sexual hedonism as a society, with thoughts and feelings and emotions that are no longer secrets, our newfound appreciation for the emotional and intellectual aspects of sex will erase so many taboos and shift fetishes, fantasies, and lifestyles into visible relationships.”

M.Christian, sextech journalist and erotic speculative fiction author

“My opinion is we’re currently stuck in what seems like perpetual freefall; every technological breakthrough or societal/sexual change making us feel increasingly uncertain about, well, everything.

“Optimistically, I hope by 2040 we’ll have found some sense of cultural stability; a world where that today seems exotic or threatening is simply a regular, everyday part of life: artificial intelligences, artificial companions, augmented and virtual reality systems, and so forth but more importantly accepting gender is and has always been nothing but a social construct, and everyone has the right to engage in consensual sexual practices and have complete autonomy over our physical selves.  

“Realistic? Perhaps not, but the future is ours to create—so why not dream of a better one where we can be who we truly are, have the freedom to explore our desires and have the freedom to expand our sexual horizons?”

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Sci-Fi/Erotica Experts Weigh In on Sex in 2040 appeared first on Future of Sex.

“This is the threshold. This is the pivot point in humanity”

A featured guest on Nick VinZant’s Profoundly Pointless podcast, world-renowned futurist and Future of Sex’s Publisher Ross Dawson had an opportunity to share his thoughts on the potential impact of emotional relationships with artificial intelligences, including not just platonic affection but also romantic and sexual feelings.

Development of emotional bonds with AI

“This is the threshold,” Dawson begins.  “This is the pivot point in humanity. Sex is central to what it is to be human. It’s central to who we are. And a lot of it is about our relationship. So there’s so many aspects to what the future of sex could be.”

In addition to teledildonics and the possibilities of sexual and emotional experiences in virtual worlds, Dawson touches on the growing number of people who are finding fulfilling experiences with AI-driven robots and artificial companions, pointing out:

“Now we have emotional companions, based on AI, which are proving that we will and we do, and we are falling in love with machines.”

Ethical and social implications

Dawson further addressed how emotional relationships with artificial intelligences may raise ethical and social questions. 

For instance, whether such relationships are healthy or if they could lead to a decrease in human-to-human interactions. There’s also the concern about dependency on AI for emotional support and the potential for AI to manipulate human emotions.

“We already are falling in love with nonhumans. In this case, AI. So that changes the nature of our relationship. One very simple question, which often comes up, is, if you have sex with a robot, is that cheating? Or if you are having an intimate conversation with an app, is that cheating? And what is cheating anyway?  

Responding to the question of whether we might accidentally create a world where interacting with robots or AI replaces human interactivity, Dawson responds:

“There is the potential to create a better world, but there are also many dangers. There are absolutely dangers in people saying this is easier; I prefer this.  People will use these in positive ways to, for example, discover in a very safe environment how I feel, different aspects of myself and my sexuality, which I can bring to my human relationships

“I respect people who say the idea of robot sex is not good, something we shouldn’t have at all. But I don’t think it’s also something that we should draw a line and turn away from. These are possibilities we need to explore with an air to making them positive.”  

Impact on traditional relationships

Dawson next discusses how AI-human relationships might impact human-to-one ones, touching on the idea of redefining concepts such as cheating, fidelity, and the nature of commitment when a partner might be an artificial intelligence, setting the stage by explaining the growing power of AI to make us fall in love with it: 

“We need to be somewhat amenable to that.  I’ve seen some really interesting things from people who say, ‘I’m just trying to work this technology out,” and then end up being emotionally engaged, surprising themselves. It’s something which we can do; it’s already there.”

Dawson adds emotional AI coupled with robotics shows the greatest potential when it comes to changing human sexuality, saying, “We’ve just reached a threshold.  I’ve said for a long time that we’ll fall in love with robots. Now that’s happening.

“It has many potential positives and also has many, many dangers. At this recent event in San Francisco, where people were talking about the dangers of AI, Jerry Kaplan described the potential for ‘emotional pornography’ because people get sucked into falling in love with machines.  

“That is the heart of who we are, our emotions, and if we become emotionally engaged with AI and, God forbid, these emotional AI companions start to influence us, that’s not good.”

Humanity’s sexual development

More than artificial intelligences, robotics, virtual reality, or other advancements, Dawson emphasized the social and sexual changes humanity is undergoing:

“This is the other point about the future of sex, it’s not just about technology, but we are changing our attitudes to sexuality from any number of measures. There are a whole lot of people who are more open about different genders. People are more open about nonmonogamy; people are more open about kink, which used to be kinky and is now more normal.

“There are a lot of unfolding social changes, technological changes.  Sex has been and is and always will be central to what it is to be human, and there are many facets of that which are unfolding as is our potential:

“How can we express ourselves more? How can we discover more of who we are because our sexuality is so unique to us as individuals? I think a lot about the future, and what we hope for in the future is that we can express and expand our sexual identity and expression.”

Image Sources: Depositphotos, Profoundly Pointless

The post Futurist Ross Dawson On The Future Of Sex: Sexbots, AI, and Unfolding Social Changes appeared first on Future of Sex.

Experts advise sex tech founders on handling the current tech industry landscape.

For this edition of the Future of Sex Expert Series, we’re asking our experts: Given the turbulence the broader tech industry is experiencing, how will the sex tech industry fare? Will sex tech be impacted in the same way?

In part one, we highlighted the hundreds of thousands of tech industry layoffs reported by a tracking site called Layoffs.fyi. 

Browsing through Layoffs.fyi, it would be easy to assume that the sex tech industry isn’t as affected. The table doesn’t have explicit categories for sex tech, femtech, or sexual wellness—so you need to know what to search for. 

RELATED READ: Sex Tech in the Face of Tech Turmoil: What’s Next?

For example, period tracking app Clue, which laid off 31% of staff in January 2023, is listed under “Healthcare” or OnlyFans, with reported layoffs in August 2022, is considered “Media.” 

Regardless of how it’s categorized, it’s evident that the sex tech industry has been susceptible to layoffs. We reached out to both OnlyFans and Clue for comment. OnlyFans declined, stating they couldn’t provide a quote “due to other commitments.” 

As for Clue, a spokesperson provided information about their sex life tracking feature, adding: “Going forward, we believe that community-led product development will be key to growth and sustainability in this space and that is what is informing our priorities for 2023.” When asked directly about the layoffs and their recent equity crowdfunding campaign announcement, the company didn’t respond.

While those responses didn’t pan out, we did hear back from other sex tech professionals with practical advice for founders navigating these turbulent times.

Mariah Freya, Co-Founder and CEO of Beducated

“As opposed to the tech industry in general, our industry has the advantage that we never have been spoiled with easy access to money. 

“In times like these, this is our superpower: We know how to run a lean business that doesn’t break the bank at the end of the month. And we never got addicted to expensive social marketing channels simply because they don’t want our money in the first place. 

“So all in all, of course, we’re not independent of macroeconomic shifts like they are happening now, but we do have some advantages over other industries.”

Beducated is a pleasure-based sex education platform with over 100+ available online courses. Beducated is Freya’s second company as a co-founder, the previous being Metamonks, a personal development media company. 

Glenise Kinard-Moore, Founder and Creator of The VDOM

“Given the sensitive nature of the data that sex tech products collect… It will be crucial for sex tech companies to invest in robust cybersecurity measures and regularly audit their systems to ensure they remain secure.

“Companies that prioritize information security and establish themselves as trusted brands in the industry may be in a better position to weather the broader turbulence of the tech industry.”

Before creating The VDOM, Moore worked in information security as an engineer for over six years.

Read her full response: How To Navigate Tech Industry Turmoil: Invest in Cybersecurity

Kathrin Folkendt, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Femtech Insider

“The economic climate is tough right now. This, of course, also affects the VC ecosystem, and I think right now many are still figuring out how to best navigate the current situation. Priority for VCs is to support their existing portfolio companies right now, which puts startups raising an early round at a disadvantage. 

“When people are nervous, they also tend to rely on what they know, what they’re used to investing in. Unfortunately, femtech and sex tech aren’t the go-to categories for most investors, which makes it difficult for founders who are fundraising now. This is especially problematic for sex tech founders, who were already at a disadvantage given the limited number of investors comfortable with the category. 

“The good news, however, is that the demand is there. Consumers and retailers are becoming more comfortable with the category, and there is a growing interest in sexual wellness and health products and services. Hopefully, this will help to raise VC interest over the next months and years. If you’re running out of runway soon, this… isn’t incredibly helpful for you. 

“So my (very general) advice, if you’re struggling to raise a round: Look at other avenues like non-dilutive funding grants or crowdfunding.”

Femtech Insider is the go-to platform and leading media outlet for all things femtech and women’s health innovation. Folkendt also curates monthly Femtech Investment Round-ups and reports on industry funding as it breaks.

Top image source: Marcus Urbenz

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