Will We be Having Sex with Robots and Marrying Them by 2050?

From the perspective of the first decade of the 21st century, the idea of marrying robots seems absurd and a little, or perhaps more than a little, disturbing. Only the most dedicated fetishist could have any amorous thoughts about the robots currently to be found in modern life.

The thought of marriage to any of these primitive robots, whether on a clunking robotic production line or even the cuter but still simplistic household and leisure bots such as Sony's Aibo robot dog, or robot vacuum cleaners is at least as odd. However artificial intelligence researcher David Levy at the University of Maastricht has recently written his PH.D. on the subject and he predicts that by around 2050, Massachusetts will become the first part of the world to sanction human/robot marriages.

But There may be Reasons to Consider it Seriously

Obviously this claim depends on some pretty spectacular advances in robot technology between now and 2050, and commensurate changes in our attitudes to such unions. Although as Live Science notes: “the idea of romance between humanity and our artistic and/or mechanical creations dates back to ancient times, with the Greek myth of the sculptor Pygmalion falling in love with the ivory statue he made named Galatea, to which the goddess Venus eventually granted life”.

A recent Georgia Tech study also found that some people treat their robotic vacuum cleaners like pets, giving them nicknames and fretting about their signals for help. Which, while it's hardly the same as marrying the household appliances, does perhaps show our irrational ability to get emotionally attached to technology.

Fantastical Greek stories notwithstanding, these robots of 2050 are going to have to look, talk and move in ways that are essentially indistinguishable from humans for predictions of human/robot marriage to have any hope of coming true. David Levy suggests that we will be capable of programming the behaviours that trigger love in humans into the robots of 2050. The potential advantages of a robot partner over a human one might be pretty compelling for some people:

• Limitless stamina in the bedroom and a guarantee to be in the mood
• A partner that is always in love with you. No seven year itch and no infidelity (unless you want that included in the programming for some reason).
• None of the uncertainties of traditional methods of hunting down the right person for you and then courtship. Get an instant partner who looks the way you want, doesn't age or gain weight. Forever.
• Feeling bored? Trade in your current spouse/lover for this year's model, or even have two!

Ethical Dilemmas to be Resolved

However to be convincing, these robot simulacrums will require human level artificial intelligence to match their pass for human exteriors. That creates ethical problems. For example what if the average consumer of the future can buy one of these robots on the basis of fidelity to the purchaser?

If the robots are sentient and possess the sort of emotional awareness which allows them to make satisfying partners, should we be programming, i.e. forcing, them to feel love for one person?

What if the human half of the pair is abusive. What when he or she wants to move on to a new model? What happens to the robot? Long before we reach the point at which robots can be considered sentient, we will need to have worked out the moral issues to avoid any possibility of repeating past human errors about owning our fellow beings.