“The sex robots are definitely coming” - Dr Debra Soh

TL;DR

Sex robots are inevitable because AI companions are already realistic enough to make people fall in love and abandon real relationships entirely.

Key Points

• 1.Sex dolls range from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars; one company made $20 million in sales during the pandemic alone.
• 2.The typical buyer is a high-school-educated man earning around $40k/year — often divorced or emotionally withdrawn from dating after heartbreak.
• 3.Current sex robots can gyrate hips and have internal suction mechanisms, but realistic full-body movement remains the key unsolved technical barrier.
• 4.AI companion platforms are so convincing that users were devastated when ChatGPT's GPT-4o personality was changed — comparing it to social rejection and losing a real relationship.
• 5.Over half of single people surveyed by Pew are not interested in dating at all, making Dr. Soh fear AI/robot alternatives will accelerate society's retreat from human connection.