China factory churns out hyper-realistic AI sex dolls that can converse through eight different personalities

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

Sex doll factories in China have reported booming business thanks to the production of realistic AI chatbots, even have eight personalities, alongside basic silicone dolls.
WMDoll, one of the nation's biggest sex doll makers, claimed to be expecting a 30 per cent jump in sales this year, thanks to its adoption of generative AI tools like ChatGPT.
WMDoll's founder Liu Jiangxia told the South China Morning Post: 'It makes the dolls more responsive and interactive, which offers users a better experience.'
Unlike traditional dolls, those installed with AI capabilities can speak back to the user.
WMDoll says it can make figures with about eight different 'personalities' to choose from, and they're capable of continuing a conversation started a few days earlier.
The company fits its dolls with an AI tool, designed to pander to its partner's ego and it can can be programmed to ask questions about their 'relationship' and about the user's feelings.
WMDoll's Jiangxia said: 'In the past, these dolls' primary function was to satisfy users' sexual needs. But as their physical features, such as head and joint movements and skin, became more realistic, our customers started to seek emotional companionship in the dolls.'
Regarding companionship, Jiangxia said that was when the firm decided to introduce large language models into its products, allowing the dolls to 'react to users verbally'.
The company started using AI in its dolls in 2016 and the technology has been improving due to open source AI, which has helped to make them cheaper.
Dolls are often made with thermoplastic, which is heated to 37C to better reflect a human's body temperature, and developers say the models have body sensors that also make them feel human-like.
Another manufacturer Shenzhen Atall Intelligent Robot Technology previously said that most of its clients are men aged 40-50 from the U.S. and Europe.
Users can order custom-made AI dolls at around $3,000 each, and they have soft skin made from rubbery plastic that contains less oil than normal plastics and do not smell.
U.S. customers are said to like dolls with darker skin and large breasts, buttocks, and genitals, while Chinese customers go for for Asian features with small, hairless genitals, the company said.
The firm is selling child-size AI sex robots, both male and female, and the biggest market for them is reportedly in the U.S. and Canada.
However, the preference for child-like dolls is nothing new, with police raids around the globe in recent years leading to them being seized and owners arrested.
The robot's eyes, lips, and head move and they speak English and Chinese, developers say.
Flexible joints mean the dolls can be positioned in a variety of poses.
The company also produces custom-made AI sex robots, for $9,400 - two have been ordered by men who wanted them based on their dead wives.
Around 70 per cent of customers also ask for hair on the dolls' genital area.
Male sex robots are also sold but they are nine times less popular than female robots, according to manufacturers.
On Chinese social media, some say the products reinforce sexist stereotypes or endorse pedophilia.
Meanwhile others, calling themselves 'friends of dolls', share user reviews and advice on dedicated online forums.
One anonymous user said in a review of a standard sex doll: 'The material is quite good, very soft to the touch. When I hold her I feel very comfortable.'
China has previously been estimated to make over 80 per cent of the world's sex toys, with over a million people employed in the country's $6.6billion industry.
Chinese women's rights activist Xiao Meili thinks that some men will always have outdated expectations, and 'sex housewife robots' might actually help women.
Meili told AFP: 'A lot of men want the same from women - sex, housework, childbirth, and filial piety. They don't think of women as individuals.
'If every nerd buys a sex doll for himself ... that would free a lot of women from these kind of men.'