Love Virtually – rise of the sex robots

Sex robots, pornography channels offering 3D content and online role-playing – harmless fun? Or a sinister side to the rise in AI?

We'll be covering all the bases during this lively discussion and we'll be asking: what exactly is a "sex" robot? Are there benefits in having a relationship with a robot rather than a human? Or do we run the risk of objectifying women and men? And if a robot has artificial intelligence – does it have rights? What are the consequences of love 'virtually' - for us as individuals - and for society in the wider sense?

Panel:

• Chair: Chris Jackson – presenter for the BBC TV programme Inside Out North East and Cumbria.
• Dr Sergi Santos – the developer behind 'Samantha' – an advanced sex robot with an artificially intelligent brain. Should she have the option to say 'no' rather than being programmed to always say 'yes'?
• Dr Trudy Barber – a Senior Lecturer at the University of Portsmouth, who is a sexual futurologist and an expert in cyber sexualities.
• Professor Kathleen Richardson – Professor of Ethics and Culture of Robots and AI at De Montfort University and founder of Campaign Against Sex Robots. She is also author of An Anthropology of Robots and AI: Annihilation Anxiety and Machines (2015) and Challenging Sociality: An Anthropology of Robots, Autism, and Attachment (due out 8 July 2018).
  

Part of Life’s Robots – then and now season.

Please note, if you purchase a ‘debate and exhibition’ ticket, this is only valid for a visit to the Robots – then and now exhibition from 10.00am – 6.30pm on 14 June 2018.

Like this event? You may also be interested in Robots: Hopes and Fears, on 1 November 2018, where we’ll be debating if robots will ultimately change our lives for better or for worse.
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