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Sexbots: the ethical ramifications of social robotics' dark side

Published: 16 February 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Recently I sat down with an older friend. During our conversation, it came up that I was researching the sex robots ("sexbots") industry. His initial reaction was to laugh in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? You mean like the robots in sci-fi?" My friend's disbelief makes sense; the idea of an actual industry for sex robots seems like a Hollywood movie in the tone of Ex Machina. However, the "sexbot industry" is real, and it's growing in popularity. According to a recent study from Tufts University, people find it "relatively permissible" to have sex with a robot. In fact, over 50 percent of people surveyed said they were open to using one (Scheutz, 2016).

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Cited By

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  • (2023)Mapping the Uses of ‘Sex’ Dolls: Pornographic Content, Doll Brothels and the Similarities with RapeMan-Made Women10.1007/978-3-031-19381-1_3(35-47)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2023
  • (2022)With Clear Intention—An Ethical Responsibility Model for Robot GovernanceFrontiers in Computer Science10.3389/fcomp.2022.8525284Online publication date: 1-Apr-2022
  • (2021)Sexbots as Synthetic Companions: Comparing Attitudes of Official Sex Offenders and Non-OffendersInternational Journal of Social Robotics10.1007/s12369-021-00797-314:2(479-498)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2021
  • Show More Cited By

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Published In

cover image AI Matters
AI Matters  Volume 3, Issue 4
Winter 2018
62 pages
EISSN:2372-3483
DOI:10.1145/3187010
Issue’s Table of Contents

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 16 February 2018
Published in SIGAI-AIMATTERS Volume 3, Issue 4

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Cited By

View all
  • (2023)Mapping the Uses of ‘Sex’ Dolls: Pornographic Content, Doll Brothels and the Similarities with RapeMan-Made Women10.1007/978-3-031-19381-1_3(35-47)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2023
  • (2022)With Clear Intention—An Ethical Responsibility Model for Robot GovernanceFrontiers in Computer Science10.3389/fcomp.2022.8525284Online publication date: 1-Apr-2022
  • (2021)Sexbots as Synthetic Companions: Comparing Attitudes of Official Sex Offenders and Non-OffendersInternational Journal of Social Robotics10.1007/s12369-021-00797-314:2(479-498)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2021
  • (2020)Design, Use, and Effects of Sex Dolls and Sex Robots: Scoping ReviewJournal of Medical Internet Research10.2196/1855122:7(e18551)Online publication date: 30-Jul-2020
  • (2020)"And This, Kids, Is How I Met Your Mother": Consumerist, Mundane, and Uncanny Futures with Sex RobotsProceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3313831.3376598(1-17)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2020

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