Artificial Emotions and Love and Sex Doll Service Workers. (November 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Belk, Russell
• Other Names: Bagozzi Richard P. guest-editor.; Brady Michael K. guest-editor.; Huang Ming-Hui guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Journal of service research. Volume 25:Number 4(2022)
• Page Start: 521
• Page End: 536
• Publication Date: 2022-11
• Subjects: sex -- robots -- dolls -- intimacy -- individual service optimization -- ethics -- social acceptance; Customer services -- Periodicals; Service industries -- Periodicals; 658.81205
• DOI: 10.1177/10946705211063692
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1094-6705

Abstract

Realistic looking humanoid love and sex dolls have been available on a somewhat secretive basis for at least three decades. But today the industry has gone mainstream with North American, European, and Asian producers using mass customization and competing on the bases of features, realism, price, and depth of product lines. As a result, realistic life size artificial companions are becoming more affordable to purchase and more feasible to patronize on a service basis. Sexual relations may be without equal when it comes to emotional intimacy. Yet, the increasingly vocal and interactive robotic versions of these dolls, feel nothing. They may nevertheless induce emotions in users that potentially surpass the pleasure of human-human sexual experiences. The most technologically advanced love and sex robots are forecast to sense human emotions and gear their performances of empathy, conversation, and sexual activity accordingly. I offer a model of how this might be done to provide a better service experience. I compare the nature of resulting "artificial emotions" by robots to natural emotions by humans. I explore the ethical issues entailed in offering love and sex robot services with artificial emotions and offer a conclusion and recommendations for service management and for further research.