Search Search Sex robots should be banned, say campaigners, as engineers look to add AI to sex toys A still from the film Ex Machina, in which an AI seduces a man Machines ‘in the form of women or children for use as sex objects, substitutes for human partners or prostitutes’ are ‘harmful and contribute to inequalities in society’, campaigners claim 6169789578 Click to follow The Independent Tech Companies should be stopped from developing sex robots with artificial intelligence for fear of harming humanity, according to campaigners.
 Many engineers are looking to add artificial intelligence to sex toys and dolls in an attempt to make them more like humans, and therefore more attractive to customers.
 But such moves are unethical and will harm humanity, according to a new campaign.
 The Campaign Against Sex Robots, launched this week, says that the “increasing effort” that has gone into producing sex robots — “machines in the form of women or children for use as sex objects, substitutes for human partners or prostitutes” — is harmful and makes society more unequal.
 The researchers say that such robots contribute towards the objectification of women and children and enforce stereotypical ideas of them.
 The robots reduce human empathy, since they will take people away from relationships with real humans, they argue.
 Read more The robots also reproduce the idea of prostitution, which the campaigners say could harm women.
 The idea sbehind the robots “show the immense horrors still present in the world of prostitution which is built on the ‘perceived’ inferiority of women and children and therefore justifies their uses as sex objects”, the researchers say.
 Some have argued that sex robots will help those involved in prostitution and sexual exploitation and violence, since those people will instead use robots.
 But the researchers say that “technology and the sex trade coexist and reinforce each other creating more demand for human bodies”.
 In pictures: Artificial intelligence through history In pictures: Artificial intelligence through history Boston Dynamics describes itself as 'building dynamic robots and software for human simulation'.
 It has created robots for DARPA, the US' military research company Google has been using similar technology to build self-driving cars, and has been pushing for legislation to allow them on the roads The DARPA Urban Challenge, set up by the US Department of Defense, challenges driverless cars to navigate a 60 mile course in an urban environment that simulates guerilla warfare Deep Blue, a computer created by IBM, won a match against world champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.
 The computer could evaluate 200 million positions per second, and Kasparov accused it of cheating after the match was finished Another computer created by IBM, Watson, beat two champions of US TV series Jeopardy at their own game in 2011 Apple's virtual assistant for iPhone, Siri, uses artificial intelligence technology to anticipate users' needs and give cheeky reactions Xbox's Kinect uses artificial intelligence to predict where players are likely to go, an track their movement more accurately The campaign, led by robotics and ethics researchers Kathleen Richardson and Erik Brilling, proposes that engineers instead work on technology that “reflect human principles of dignity, mutuality and freedom”.
 They hope that other members will join the campaign, so that it can “encourage computer scientists and roboticists to refuse to contribute to the development of sex robots as a field by refusing to provide code, hardware or ideas” as well as working with campaigns against the sexual exploitation of humans.
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