How next-gen artificial companions could borrow a page or two from the Magic Kingdom’s Audio-Animatronics

If you’re a regular reader, you’re likely well aware of how many—sometimes wildly unique—approaches there have been to bringing a sense of touch to virtual reality experiences or, what we’re here for, giving synthetic companions ultra-lifelike, human-feeling skins.

Enter a pair of University of California, Santa Barbara researchers who’ve taken yet another angle: a display that allows viewers to feel as well as see what they’re looking at.

Though in its early stages, the work of PhD candidate Max Linnander and professor Yon Visell of the university’s RE Touch Lab could be what sexbot developers have been looking for—with a little help from, of all people, Disney’s Audio-Animatronics Imagineers.

Feeling the Future

Published in Science Robotics, the Linnander and Visell system employs a network of millimeter-wide optotactile pixels that, when struck from behind by a low-intensity laser, illuminate and—courtesy of each pixel’s built-in air pocket—produce a small but haptically detectable bump.

RECOMMENDED READ: Touching Tomorrow: High Tech Sensory Toy Heralds a New Era for Synthetic Companions

“I put my finger on the pixel and felt a clear tactile pulse whenever the light flashed,” Yon Visell told Futurity. “That was a special moment—the moment we knew the core idea could work.”

Yon Visell further explained that the technology was scalable, demonstrated by the team already producing an impressive 1,500-pixel screen; far more than any other haptic displays before or since.

Touching Tomorrow

Here’s where Disney might come in. You see, while for many years their theme park Audio-Animatronics relied on relatively simple mechanisms in order to perform equally limited facial movements, their famous Imagineers recently began thinking outside that clunky old box.

Recently patented—and already part of many of their attractions—rather than struggling to give their figures realistic expressions, they made them almost featureless, essentially blank surfaces given life by networks of computer-controlled, motion-tracking projectors.

All fine and/or dandy for static theme park attractions, though not so much for hopefully-movable—or perhaps someday fully ambulatory—artificial companions.

Agreed, we might be getting a bit out there technology-wise, but we might someday be able to marry the RE Touch Lab’s work with a novel take on projection mapping by swapping an external image source for an interior one.

For example, imagine our artificial robot’s skin as either a full-body haptic display screen, one capable of looking and feeling however you or anyone wants, or just a tactile surface with colors, patterns, and so forth illuminated from within.

Embracing the Possibilities

Obviously, the former would be preferable. But even if the technology is decades away, having a user-configurable, fully haptic head has a lot going for it. No less so, how, like Disney’s new Audio-Animatronics, it could do everything a human face can do without any of the distressingly odd, uncanny valley awkwardness of a mechanical replica.

Additionally, you would be able to change everything about it—color, textures, expressions, the list goes on and on—without needing to replace one head with another: merely tap a special smartphone app and, lo and behold, your companion can resemble whoever you desire.

And compliments of an advanced version of RE Touch Lab tech, it would also feel however you want. Probably the most challenging, as you would need to create a microscopic array of specialized optotactiles—kind of like how our tongues have different taste buds—in order to replicate as a pulsating array of different sensations, it’s still a possibility. Albeit one we may not see for a decade or more—a lot more.

As we like to say when discussing these and other exciting new haptic technologies, the RE Touch Lab’s work—or (ahem) borrowing from Disney’s Imagineers—may not get us where we want to go. In all likelihood, what will be is going to be a little of this, a little of that, mixed in with a hefty dose of good, old-fashioned creativity.

Which, when you think about it, has already helped us fulfill so many of our sexually futuristic fantasies—and, in the process, showed us there’s nothing we can’t do if we put our minds and especially our imaginations to it.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Look Who’s Feeling: New Haptic Tech Plus Sexbots May Equal Endless Erotic Possibilities appeared first on Future of Sex.

AI? Check! Lifelike movements? Ditto! But what about what makes sexbots go?

From unaesthetically blocky humanoid robot prototypes incapable of walking across a stage let alone ascend a couple of stairs, to today’s elegantly strolling, seductively stylish Xpeng’s IRON model, it certainly looks like our dreams of super lifelike, fully autonomous, artificial-intelligence-driven, synthetic companions may be right around the corner.

But we have one unfortunately large technological hurdle yet to overcome. That is, in order to untether our wildest, independently functioning sexbot dreams, we need to figure out how to keep them charged—at least for more than a few minutes at a time.

Electric Avenue

Compared with making robots move less like machines and more closely resemble a sort-of-living, kind-of-breathing person with natural movement, and covering their inner mechanisms with a supple, lifelike skin, you’d think building a suitably powerful and necessarily compact battery would be a proverbial snap.

RECOMMENDED READ: Microsoft AI’s CEO Swears To “Never Build A Sex Robot”

The problem is power isn’t an exclusively robotic dilemma. The electric vehicles industry, for instance, has been struggling with it for years, and while companies utilizing lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) or nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries are achieving truly impressive mileages, the technology remains far too big, heavy, and especially expensive for artificial companion developers to ever use.

With that in mind, it seems we might have two possible solutions. The first is to wait until technology reduces the cost, size, and weight of high-capacity LFP or NMC batteries—which may take so much time as to be practically impossible.

Electric Love

The other is to take a page from life itself by making tomorrow’s artificial companions move efficientlyas well as realistically—so they could function longer with much less juice.

For example, soft robotics swaps complicated arrays of bulky, energy-hungry mechanical motors for fewer, generally lighter, hydraulic systems that essentially mirror how human muscles work. Not only that, but soft technology also looks, feels, and acts more naturally. 

Meaning next-gen artificial companions wouldn’t have to squander priceless joules making—and likely failing—to make a clunky collection of servos and miles of wiring move like a human when soft robotic engineering can already do precisely that.

Then there’s the issue of their brains. As we’re growing increasingly aware, artificial intelligence hardware requires a lot of power which, in turn, needs another lot of cooling—resulting in even more lots of weight.

Of course, we might see the development of newer, more energy-efficient AI hardware in the not-too-distant future, or perhaps the software side won’t need so much of the former to run.

Nice to dream, but we also might take a different approach by making tomorrow’s artificial companions brainless.

Plug In Baby

What I mean is rather than cramming all those electricity-hungry chips into an artificial companion’s noggin, we instead take a page from another, already well-established, energy-efficient technology.

Ever use a Chromebook or MacBook Air? If you’re not already familiar, both are basically web browsers masquerading as laptops and while nearly useless without Wi-Fi, their minimalization also means they need far less power than their larger, hungrier brethren.

So why not use their approach and build artificial companions with high-speed Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, whichever is faster and more reliable, and not big, power-demanding brains? While there might be a few obvious trade-offs, like needing to have a constant, high-speed internet connection, they also might be able to do everything we want for hours or possibly days of nonstop use rather than scant minutes at a time.

She’s electric

Likewise, we could ditch batteries altogether—or at least not have to build them to do all the heavy lifting. Inspired by another, already familiar bit of household tech, why not construct our artificial companions with a bevy of well-placed induction charging points?

Installing them in … well, their backsides might be ideal as all they’d have to do to top off their batteries is sit down on a complementary-equipped chair or stretch out on their own charging bed. Though it might mean they couldn’t walk, talk, or do all the other fun things we might like them to do for days at a stretch, their considerably smaller batteries would make them lighter and more efficient.

Will we eventually solve the artificial companion battery problem? Of course, but if developers tried thinking outside their technological boxes, we might have them walking, talking, and loving us much sooner than later.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

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Will you soon be able to own your own, unprecedentedly sophisticated artificial companion?

Xpeng, a China-based company specializing in electric vehicles, recently announced the 2026 release of what could be the most sophisticated humanoid robot to date. The robot features software modeled after science fiction author Issac Asimov’s legendary three laws of robotics, as well as lifelike synthetic skin.

The 2nd generation models continue Xpeng’s IRON humanoid robot intiative and were recently revealed during its AI Day event held in Guangzhou, China. The new models are less industrially blocky, more aesthetically—even sensually— appealing, and allow for the “customization for different body shapes.”

Big step forward?

The robots are intended to serve as tour/shopping guides and traffic wardens, but purchasers will also be able to customize their robot’s color and hairstyle, and additional clothing options planned for the future.

The Xpeng site also describes their robots as having “82 degrees of freedom throughout the body, its movements are natural, smooth, and flexible, capable of achieving catwalk walking and other high-difficulty human-like actions.”

RECOMMENDED READ: Touching Tomorrow: High Tech Sensory Toy Heralds a New Era for Synthetic Companions

If you’re worried they might be a little too advanced, Xpeng also made a point of saying their robots’ are encoded with Issac Asimov’s three laws: (1) never directly, or by inaction, harm a human; (2) obey whatever a human says unless conflicts with the first law; and (3) to preserve itself except when doing so would violate laws one and two with Xpeng installed a forth, i.e. ‘”Privacy data does not leave the robot” to maximize the protection of the safety of participants in the physical AI world.”

Or smoke and mirrors?

What has been revealed about the new IRON robots is certainly impressive, especially when Xpeng demonstrated their naturalistic fluidity. However, there’s a lot that hasn’t been disclosed.

Battery life is one aspect; aside from stating that they’re “all-solid-state,” Xpeng neglected to specify how long the robots can function or the time required to charge them fully. After all, we only see them moving relatively short distances and not interacting with anything or anyone, leaving the question of whether Xpeng’s next year release date is accurate or PR hype.

Not around the corner?

If Xpeng’s claims aren’t corporate hyperbole, we could be seeing a major turning point in the development of exceptionally lifelike artificial companions: watching how naturally they walk makes it easy to imagine the same sort of technology being integrated into any of the current super-sophisticated, anatomically correct dolls.

For instance, if we could attach a ReadDoll Harmony X head, with its eye tracking, head swiveling, and other sensually alluring features we might make one of our most erotically enduring dreams a reality in less than a year, two at the most.

Even if most of Xpeng’s promises fail to materialize, producing a robot capable of mimicking a human’s movements could still be a massive game-changer.  Even if their robots can’t function independently—or at least not for an extended period—it’d be a very small price to pay to have a walking, sitting, dancing, and so on artificial companion—albeit one that requires an extension cord to do so.

But maybe the next?

Likewise, should Xpeng’s much-touted naturalistic skin prove to be anything but, today’s synthetic companion manufacturers have already beaten them to it, having pretty much perfected giving their products the look and feel of lifelike human skin.

It’s reasonable to view Xpeng’s claims with some skepticism. But even if a few of their claimed advancements are delayed, we still might be witnessing a pivotal moment in the design and manufacturing of tomorrow’s human-looking, human-feeling, human-acting artificial companions.

And then, before you know it, humanity may have the benefit of such companions, whether we are ready for this or not.

Image Sources: ShanghaiEye, Depositphotos

The post More Human Than Human? Chinese Manufacturer Unveils Advanced Robot With Artificial Skin appeared first on Future of Sex.

Ill-informed statement only further stigmatizes artificial companion relationships

In an MIT Review interview, Mustafa Suleyman, the current CEO of Microsoft AI, expressed his strong concerns regarding Musk’s Grok and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which recently enabled adult interactions, and whether Microsoft would follow suit. He gave a pointedly direct reply: Never!

But his answer raises a question that should be equally direct: Does Suleyman reflect a savvy business decision, or is it merely a sign of an older, more socially conservative company’s reluctance to stand up and say it’s actually for the customers’ happiness, regardless of what turns them on?

People first?

Suleyman said that despite Grok and OpenAI’s enabling their products to talk dirty, Microsoft instead is taking a different approach, specifically:

Yeah, we will never build sex robots. Sad in a way that we have to be so clear about that, but that’s just not our mission as a company. The joy of being at Microsoft is that for 50 years, the company has built, you know, software to empower people, to put people first.

Suleyman went on to add that this means Microsoft might not be as quick to respond as other companies in its field. However, its more cautious approach is “a feature, not a bug, in this age, when being attentive to potential side effects and longer-term consequences is really important.”

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

When pressed to explain, Suleyman responded, “We’re very clear on, you know, trying to create an AI that fosters a meaningful relationship. It’s not that it’s trying to be cold and anodyne—it cares about being fluid and lucid and kind. It definitely has some emotional intelligence.”

For example, Suleyman explained that while Microsoft’s Real Talk chatbot might be “a bit more cheeky, it’s a bit more fun …but if you try and flirt with it, it’ll push back and it’ll be very clear—not in a judgmental way, but just, like, “Look, that’s not for me.’”

Who do you serve?

Making Suleyman’s responses puzzling is how, on one hand, he says Microsoft is all about putting people first while failing to understand that they also sometimes need more than a merely flirty chatbot.

Helping to drive this home, when asked for his opinion on whether the use of AIs with strong personalities is a good or not-so-good idea, Suleyman said it was the former, though he felt it needed to be limited:

There are some things which we’re saying are just off the table, and there are other things which we’re going to be more experimental with. Like, certain people have complained that they don’t get enough pushback from Copilot—they want it to be more challenging. Other people aren’t looking for that kind of experience—they want it to be a basic information provider. The task for us is just learning to disentangle what type of experience to give to different people.

The interview left me confused as it appears that Suleyman can’t explain precisely why Microsoft has taken such a firm stance—and if it’s truly about providing users with what they want, then why shouldn’t at least one of their AI products allow for them to engage in sexually explorative chats?

Protest too much?

At the risk of reading too much into it, it feels as if Suleyman is playing defense: repeating that other companies, like Grok and OpenAI, can give their customers what they want, but Microsoft won’t.

Another more than slightly troubling aspect is why he felt it was necessary to be so adamantly anti-sexbot, especially since the interviewer didn’t ask about artificial companions, just if its competitors’ now-sexualized products may have made Microsoft AI rethink its anti-adult entertainment stance.

You’d think an expert would know the difference between erotic AI software and an intrinsically material sex robot—and if Suleyman doesn’t, then maybe he should spend time researching the difference if he’s going to take such a strong stance against them.

Not only that, but unfortunately like Grok and Open AI—who despite profiting off adult AI chats, don’t respect their customers’ emotional wellbeing—and so many others, it looks as if we’ll have to add Microsoft to the list of companies who claim to serve people but in reality don’t (or won’t) understand that sex isn’t just fun but what makes us human.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Microsoft AI’s CEO Swears To “Never Build A Sex Robot” appeared first on Future of Sex.

TruTru might be just what we want—and desire

TruTru, a gelatinous-like, tactile-responsive companion toy, can do everything from growing warmer or cooler, changing color and, according to the project site, “simulate fleeting and shifting sensations, like the ripple of water, the patter of rain, the swish of wind, the flutter of butterfly wings, or the gentle rhythm of shifting pulses.”

As envisioned by JUE Design and Research studio, in conjunction with the Intelligent Human-Machine Mechanical Interface Lag at Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University, TruTru is “a loveable friend that offers not just haptic sensations, but emotional companionship in users’ everyday life.”

Alas, it isn’t cleare how TruTru is supposed to accomplish this, plus serving as a mindfulness and meditation guide, as well as a sleep aid.

If TruTru actually functions as promised, imagine with me how the artificial companion industry could adapt its technology to achieve mind-glowing—and erotically exciting—fascinating new options. 

And I’m feeling good 

TruTru will supposedly have optional, straplike arms, allowing it “to be worn, clipped, or carried in various ways, adapting fluidly to everyday movement.”

However, touch—or rather its haptic capacity to replicate not only the aforementioned fluttering butterfly wings but “natural materials like stone, wood, sand, feather, shell, etc., as well as familiar man-made surfaces such as fabric, rubber, ceramic, etc.” is how TruTru might evolve from a pleasant novelty to a potential sextech marvel.

RECOMMENDED READ: Hello Dolly: Today’s Customized Synthetic Companions Set the Stage for Tomorrow’s Pleasures

The project’s site is scant on the technological details.  Hypothesizing, it might rely on a kind of electrostimulation to physiologically mimic sensations, like how a low voltage charge applied across a patch of skin can sometimes seem slippery.

Sound is another possibility. For instance employing subsonic, on one end of the scale, hypersonic vibrations to generate similarly realistic tactile impressions. 

Touch me, touch me, touch me

No matter TruTru’s final design, its technology is likely to end up, legally or otherwise, paperclipped by the sextech and artificial companion industries.

Imagine state-of-the-art pleasurable playthings capable of near-instantaneously growing hotter or colder, rougher or slicker, more or less electrically stimulating, capable of emulating fur, stone, metal, flesh, or a hundreds other substances.

Even if TruTru’s sensation mimicry is never fully realized, merely having temperature or color changing sextoys or artificial companions offers all sorts of wildly erotic possibilities.

Just as today’s best flat screens—produced by South Korea’s LG Display Co., as reported by The Korea Economic Daily—can be twisted, stretched, and folded, consider how a TruTru-like toy might be covered in a likewise twistable, stretchable, and foldable outer skin.

Want to change your artificial companion’s face, skin tone, or have it seductively flow from one color to the next?  How about having your futuristic sextoy’s surface double as a high resolution screen for watching whatever turns you on?  Or why not add in some super fast networking so your smart companion or toy would resemble your partner—regardless of how thousands of miles may separate you.

Hold onto your dreams

TruTru may never be anything but an implausible, high-tech fantasy—though if rapid, frequently unpredictable technological charge is anything to go by—it, or any product with colorful, haptic, temperature changing capabilities—could still reshape pleasure technologies like nothing before or since.

In fact, the idea of a cute little spontaneously metamorphic, mindfulness, meditation, sleep, and/or friendly buddy may be what jump-starts that reshaping.  

After all, just a few paragraphs back we offered some interesting possibilities, with plenty of others should we—or you or all of us—put our minds to it.

So rather than scoffing at imaginative concepts like TruTru, instead look at them as creative jumping off points towards other, perhaps more realistic, breakthroughs to come.  

For as everyone knows, dreams—erotic or otherwise—can be fun on their own but also may be just what we need to make the real world a better, happier, and more fulfilling place.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Touching Tomorrow: High Tech Sensory Toy Heralds a New Era for Synthetic Companions appeared first on Future of Sex.

Regulation mandates developer accountability, blocking minors from accessing adult content

CA SB 243, the chatbot companion law, was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 13th, according to a press release from the office of state senator Steve Padilla. Padilla and Josh Becker, another state senator, introduced the legislation last January.

The press release states the legislation is designed to “provide reasonable safeguards for the most vulnerable people,” particularly minors. The law goes into effect next year. 

Distinguishing chatbot companions from customer service, business, and research bots, the law defines the former as:

…an artificial intelligence system with a natural language interface that provides adaptive, human-like responses to user inputs and is capable of meeting a user’s social needs, including by exhibiting anthropomorphic features and being able to sustain a relationship across multiple interactions.

However, many people have established emotionally and sometimes sexually intimate relationships with business/research bots like ChatGPT—even in spite of user guidelines and AI guardrails—so it is not clear if the legal distinction will be based on types of use or how the platforms define their purpose. 

And when a chatbot product such as Grok3 tries to be all things to all people by including a “sexy mode” toggle for NSFW chats in the same AI system that has also infiltrated the US government, matters may become even more murky.

How might the law impact chatbot sex?

The new law is concerned primarily with preventing chatbots from encouraging or ignoring threats of self-harm and suicide, as well as preventing minors from accessing sexually explicit content, as defined by Section 2256 of Title 18 of the United States Code. 

RECOMMENDED READ: Companion Bot Companies Quake as a New California Law Targets Their Products

Adult access to sexually explicit content is mostly not regulated by SB-243. Most California adults using chatbots for erotic purposes are, for the moment, not in danger of losing their access to NSFW content if they are already using an uncensored app.

Most adults perhaps, but not all, as Senator Padilla stated in TechCrunch: “We can support innovation and development that we think is healthy and has benefits—and there are benefits to this technology, clearly—and at the same time, we can provide reasonable safeguards for the most vulnerable people.” 

Those most vulnerable

Though the exact phrase is not used within the law’s text—and it may be assumed that those who are suicidal and depressed are the “most vulnerable people” that lawmakers had in mind, vulnerability is not defined. 

This is troubling as many people, besides Senator Padilla, use this phrase when commenting on the law’s intent, and it may be interpreted more broadly than is appropriate in some cases.

For example, Jodi Halpern, MD, PhD, UC Berkeley Professor of Bioethics and Co-Director of the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science and the Public, was quoted in Padilla’s press release:

There are increasing lawsuits related to suicides in minors and reports of serious harms and related deaths in elders with cognitive impairment, people with OCD and delusional disorders. There are more detailed reports of how companion chatbot companies use techniques to create increasing user engagement which is creating dependency and even addiction in children, youth and other vulnerable populations.

Let’s consider that in the context of sexual behavior and desire. For example, people with intellectual disabilities, cognitive impairment, and other disabilities and health conditions—including those who are living in congregate care settings or otherwise under the close supervision of social workers and other care providers—are often suspected of being unable to consent to sexual activities, even if this is not actually the case. 

Their sexual desires and activities, partnered or solo, are often deemed unsuitable to their conditions, and are sometimes policed or prevented by well-meaning people who may consider sex among the aged or disabled as inappropriate, dangerous, or as the result of predation, even if it’s only with an AI boyfriend or girlfriend.

Deviance compounded, hazards rising

Many people still consider chatbot sex to be deviant in and of itself, but matters may worsen if a social worker or care provider discovers their charge is engaged in digital activities they consider as morally wrong or disgusting, such as queer, kinky, and/or multiple-partnered bot sex. 

This kind of hostility among social service workers is well documented in numerous studies, including this 2022 literature review which found:

Religious affiliation and religiosity can inform negative attitudes towards LGBTQ people among healthcare, social care and social work students, practitioners, and educators.

Christian students and practitioners who take a literal interpretation of the bible are more likely to be resistant to reflective discussions and to moderating their beliefs and attitudes.

These biases sometimes have tragic consequences—such as denial of sexual expression, separation from partners, false charges of abuse against the top in a consensual kink relationship—even for those who only engage in human to human relationships. 

Essentially, as the concept of “the most vulnerable people” is not defined, the intent of the law is open for interpretation. Not only is this potentially hazardous to users who may find their sexual autonomy threatened if someone decides they are vulnerable—but this lack of definition also potentially increases prosecution risks for companion bot providers.

Cultivate AI risk awareness and make it a quickie

As evidence of the hazards of chatbot use accumulates, consumers should be cautious regarding intimate contacts with AI, and perhaps even avoid it until regulations such as CA SB 243 are put in place—and enforced—throughout the US and elsewhere. 

Providers must be more diligent in finding, fixing, and informing consumers about safety issues. For example, a ChatGPT blog admits: 

Our safeguards work more reliably in common, short exchanges. We have learned over time that these safeguards can sometimes be less reliable in long interactions: as the back-and-forth grows, parts of the model’s safety training may degrade.

In other words, if you’re over 18, get it on if you must, but don’t linger in the digital arms of your bot. Maybe save lingering for human lovers, if you have them, or a nice time in the bath if you don’t.

Image source: A.R. Marsh using Ideogram.ai

The post California’s New Chatbot Companion Law Aims to Safeguard Users appeared first on Future of Sex.