DIARY Robots invasion of bedrooms has dangers, expert warns

“SEXBOTS” could seriously damage human relationships, a leading robot ethicist has warned.

Experts hope to use artificial intelligence to create lifelike machines that can talk and have sex like a human. However, Kathleen Richardson told the BBC the technology was “unnecessary and undesirable”.

“Sex robots seem to be a growing focus in the robotics industry and the models that they draw on – how they will look, what roles they would play – are very disturbing indeed,” she said.

She believes that they reinforce traditional stereotypes of women and the view that a relationship need be nothing more than physical.

“We think that the creation of such robots will contribute to detrimental relationships between men and women, adults and children, men and men and women and women,” she said.

Richardson, a robot ethicist at De Montfort University in Leicester, wants to raise awareness of the issue and persuade those developing sex robots to rethink how their technology is used. Previously experts have warned that human relationships with robots were set to become commonplace.

Sex between humans and machines may soon become the norm. As humans spend more time in virtual realities – including online gaming and social media – intimate relationships with androids might even improve people’s mental health, according to a sex psychologist. – Daily Mail