LOS ANGELES — Porn’s reputation for technological leadership is once again making a mainstream stir as a new breed of “sex robots” join the ranks of the adult industry’s newest generation of performers — but are sexual automatons a glimpse at sex and society’s future, or merely a passing fad?
At the outset, it’s important to note the distinction between actual sex robots featuring various levels of awareness and engagement with users (with the ideal being an artificially intelligent learning machine); and simple sex dolls — which despite the stunning realism of many higher-end models remain a glorified lump of rubber…
It is a distinction that will be lost in much of the mainstream hoopla, but it is at the heart of the matter, since the bleeding edge of legal advancement is focused on extending rights to AI entities; bringing an added dimension to the issue of “consent,” which is already at the forefront of industry consciousness.
While all of that gets worked out, however, sex dolls and robots alike are making inroads in adult.
A recent example of porn’s robotic trend was highlighted in a recent article in the U.K.’s “Mirror,” which looked at web sci-fi series “Future Darkly,” an Adult Time production featuring the Aura Doll in a product placement deal alongside human co-stars Whitney Wright and Tommy Pistol.
The series will run in six episodes between February and July 2019.
“I believe we are one of the first mainstream porn companies to shoot a threesome scene featuring a synthetic woman,” the series’ twice-crowned XBIZ Director of the Year Bree Mills told The Sun. “We’ve certainly been floored by the overwhelmingly positive reception to this scene, which I believe is one of the first in mainstream porn to feature a full sexual encounter with a silicone woman.”
Mills is considering a series devoted to sex with dolls because as she told The Sun, “when shot in an artistic way, it is actually quite erotic and beautiful.”
“I’m not sure if this will mark a turning point in the future of porn overall, but it certainly shows an area of interest that will likely grow as AI and robots do,” Mills adds. “Synthetic relationships are traditionally seen as being very taboo but, as technology, sexual discourse, and the digital age advances, it is becoming an increasingly hot topic.”
While “Future Darkly” is a great example of the trend and its likely future course, it is not the only example of doll-inclusive porn — and it will certainly not be the last.
