Many of us are terrified AI will put us out of a job – and it seems not even the oldest profession is immune from the threat.
Sex work is advancing into new territories, where traditional prostitutes are being replaced by “intergalactic pleasure dolls” equipped with endearing qualities like a heart of gold, super-flexible limbs, and an eagerness to experiment.
They don’t even insist you wear a condom.
Sex robots used to be the stuff of science fiction – featuring in movies like Blade Runner, Ex Machina and the Megan Fox vehicle Subservience.
With silicone dolls becoming more and more lifelike, they are becoming a practical and potentially less complicated option compared to human interaction.
According to the authors of Sex Work Today, Bernadette Barton, Barbara G Brents, and Angela Jones, the first AI sex worker has been developed to cater to all desires while also emphasizing the importance of consent during intimate encounters.
Kokeshi plies her trade at the Cybrothel in Berlin, and is marketed as tasting like peaches and smelling like summer rain. She boasts facial piercings, a wide array of bondage gear, and has a mission ‘to spread pleasure consciousness in a shame-free environment.’
She shares the space with Paris, ‘a hyperfeminine girl next door,’ Guy Rider, ‘a sultry bisexual male doll,’ Mistress Oxana, ‘a German dominatrix,’ and ‘coming soon, Hito, a pixie-esque Manga doll with pointy ears, as well as a blue-skinned alien doll.’
Kokeshi is marketed as tasting like peaches and smelling like summer rain
Megan Fox played a robot called Alice in the sci-fi thriller Subservience, and strips off in a set of jaw-dropping sex scenes
The authors write: ‘When clients first enter the room, they find Kokeshi basking in a heater to warm her silicone skin, wearing a curly blue wig and clear plastic skirt, with her galactic blue eyes fixed on a bowl of condoms dangling above the bed.’
But, crucially, where Kokeshi differs from other sex doll brothels is that her owner, Alexis Smiley Smith, has given her ‘a real personality.’ She interacts with clients via strategically placed cameras and microphones in what she calls an ‘analog AI’ experience.
‘My offsite room is a literal closet, packed with doll clothes, wigs, a small table with monitors, a headset, an audio mixer, and a laptop,’ says Smith – herself a former escort.
‘The equipment is outdated, so it looks like something out of the early 1990s.’
The book’s authors note that the experience is, in a way, ‘phone sex with a shared physical medium.’
Initially fearing her clients would be ‘incel-type men… coming to her flat and having creepy sex’ with her, Smith says she ‘queered her up a bit,’ designing a doll with feminist ideals and a mission to teach consent.
‘Often, I find myself taking control by directing the client to get undressed, to come sit on the bed next to me (Kokeshi), to touch my arms, the little dip of my collar bone, or to smell my hair,’ she says.
‘I mention lube is important and say, “Yes, you can touch me there, thank you for asking.” I reward consent and make it a point to bring up how important consent is, even in this context.
Kokeshi boasts a wide array of bondage gear, and has a mission ‘to spread pleasure consciousness in a shame-free environment’
Alicia Vikander plays a robot called Ava who develops feelings for her creator in Ex Machina
Sex robots used to be the stuff of science fiction – featuring in movies like Blade Runner
‘And,’ she adds, ‘yes, I simulate orgasms, moan, and say names. This is a form of sex work, after all.’
The AI experience, she says, has brought her clients who were too shy to explore their fantasies with human partners.
‘I had clients where the wife in a heterosexual relationship wanted a threesome and was more sexually adventurous than her husband, but he was open and supportive.’
While the wife threw herself into the AI experience, she says, the husband was reticent.
‘Sensing the room, I was able to use Kokeshi, with my voice, to soften the mood and take some pressure off the couple.
‘And it dawned on me, as a sex worker, I sell more than sex, I sell connection. I can laugh at the champagne cork hitting the ceiling, ask meaningful questions, banter…’
The authors note that scholars have estimated that, by 2045, one in ten young adults will have had a sexual encounter with a humanoid robot.
‘That said, exactly what role doll brothels will play in future sex tech enterprises is uncertain.’
Fearing that her clients would be ‘incel-type men’, Smith created Kokeshi with feminist ideals and a ‘queer’ personality
Smith (left) says: ‘I make it a point to bring up how important consent is, even in this context’
That’s because legal crackdowns have shut down several brothels in America, Europe and Asia.
‘But in Berlin,’ they say, ‘the market is thriving.’
Whatever the future holds, however, they’re confident that the human need to connect means we’re a long way from seeing dolls – however realistic – take over sex work entirely.
They write: ‘There is something about spontaneous human connection that people desire, perhaps more than sex itself.
‘The allure of a doll that can hold any sexual position indefinitely is one thing, but having someone who encourages you to try new positions is something altogether different.’
Alexis agrees: ‘I am certain dolls will never replace human sex workers… the question is, where will their place be?’
Perhaps in the closet?
Sex Work Today: Erotic Labor in the Twenty-First Century by Bernadette Barton, Barbara G Brents, and Angela Jones is published by NYU Press
