Do chatbots change how we think about sexuality? towards an empirically informed philosophy of sexuality in the age of AI-mediated intimacy

IF 6.1 Q2 COMPUTER SCIENCE, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

AI & Society Pub Date : 2026-06-02 DOI:10.1007/s00146-026-03132-4

Laurent Voet, Tom Claes, Lode Lauwaert

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Millions of users now engage in sexual and romantic interactions with AI chatbots, from dedicated companion platforms such as Replika, Ourdream.ai and Character.AI to general-purpose large language models such as ChatGPT, whose developers have recently discussed permitting erotic content for verified adults. These developments constitute what McArthur (2022) terms second-wave sextech, in which the artefact itself becomes the focal point of sexual engagement. Contemporary philosophical debate on second-wave sexual technologies is organized around three dominant positions: instrumentalist, abolitionist feminist, and polysemic. Each is primarily concerned with the ethical permissibility of their design and use. We argue that all three share a significant shortcoming: they fail to address the conceptual pressure that AI-mediated sexual technologies exert on established categories within the traditional philosophy of sexuality and on everyday concepts people use to make sense of their sexual subjectivity, activities and relations. Current philosophical discussions neglect the question of how these technologies may require us to revise such notions as sexual activity, sexual partnership, intentionality, objectification, and the ontological status of technologically mediated sexual experience. This neglect arises from an insufficient appreciation of the co-constitutive relationship between sexual technologies and the concepts through which we understand sexuality. Drawing on a work in conceptual engineering and techno-moral change, we demonstrate that earlier sexual technologies have already occasioned substantial conceptual and normative shifts, and that the current proliferation of AI-mediated sexual interactions is likely to intensify them. The paper advances two claims: that philosophical inquiry into AI-mediated sexual technologies must engage the broader tradition in the philosophy of sexuality, particularly regarding the ontology of sexual acts and sexual subjectivity; and that an empirically informed approach, drawing on experimental philosophy and established empirical disciplines, is warranted to investigate how these technologies reshape broader conceptualizations surrounding sexuality.

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聊天机器人会改变我们对性的看法吗？在人工智能介导的亲密关系时代，向经验主义的性哲学迈进

如今，数百万用户与Replika、Ourdream等专门的伴侣平台上的人工智能聊天机器人进行性和浪漫互动。ai和性格。将人工智能应用于ChatGPT等通用大型语言模型，该模型的开发人员最近讨论了允许经过验证的成人提供色情内容的问题。这些发展构成了McArthur（2022）所说的第二波性科技，其中人工制品本身成为性接触的焦点。当代关于第二波性技术的哲学辩论围绕着三个主导立场：工具主义、废奴主义、女权主义和多义性。每一个都主要关注其设计和使用的道德许可。我们认为，这三者都有一个明显的缺点：它们未能解决人工智能介导的性技术对传统性哲学中的既定类别以及人们用来理解其性主体性、性活动和性关系的日常概念施加的概念压力。目前的哲学讨论忽视了这些技术如何要求我们修改性活动、性伙伴关系、意向性、客观化以及技术介导的性经验的本体论地位等概念。这种忽视源于对性技术和我们理解性的概念之间的共同构成关系的认识不足。借鉴概念工程和技术道德变革方面的工作，我们证明，早期的性技术已经引起了实质性的概念和规范转变，而目前人工智能介导的性互动的扩散可能会加剧这种转变。本文提出了两个主张：对人工智能介导的性技术的哲学探究必须涉及性哲学中更广泛的传统，特别是关于性行为的本体论和性主体性；而且，利用实验哲学和已建立的经验学科，以经验为依据的方法，有必要研究这些技术如何重塑围绕性的更广泛的概念。

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来源期刊

AI & Society COMPUTER SCIENCE, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-

CiteScore

8.00

自引率

20.00%

发文量

257

期刊介绍： AI & Society: Knowledge, Culture and Communication, is an International Journal publishing refereed scholarly articles, position papers, debates, short communications, and reviews of books and other publications. Established in 1987, the Journal focuses on societal issues including the design, use, management, and policy of information, communications and new media technologies, with a particular emphasis on cultural, social, cognitive, economic, ethical, and philosophical implications. AI & Society has a broad scope and is strongly interdisciplinary. We welcome contributions and participation from researchers and practitioners in a variety of fields including information technologies, humanities, social sciences, arts and sciences. This includes broader societal and cultural impacts, for example on governance, security, sustainability, identity, inclusion, working life, corporate and community welfare, and well-being of people. Co-authored articles from diverse disciplines are encouraged. AI & Society seeks to promote an understanding of the potential, transformative impacts and critical consequences of pervasive technology for societies. Technological innovations, including new sciences such as biotech, nanotech and neuroscience, offer a great potential for societies, but also pose existential risk. Rooted in the human-centred tradition of science and technology, the Journal acts as a catalyst, promoter and facilitator of engagement with diversity of voices and over-the-horizon issues of arts, science, technology and society. AI & Society expects that, in keeping with the ethos of the journal, submissions should provide a substantial and explicit argument on the societal dimension of research, particularly the benefits, impacts and implications for society. This may include factors such as trust, biases, privacy, reliability, responsibility, and competence of AI systems. Such arguments should be validated by critical comment on current research in this area. Curmudgeon Corner will retain its opinionated ethos. The journal is in three parts: a) full length scholarly articles; b) strategic ideas, critical reviews and reflections; c) Student Forum is for emerging researchers and new voices to communicate their ongoing research to the wider academic community, mentored by the Journal Advisory Board; Book Reviews and News; Curmudgeon Corner for the opinionated. Papers in the Original Section may include original papers, which are underpinned by theoretical, methodological, conceptual or philosophical foundations. The Open Forum Section may include strategic ideas, critical reviews and potential implications for society of current research. Network Research Section papers make substantial contributions to theoretical and methodological foundations within societal domains. These will be multi-authored papers that include a summary of the contribution of each author to the paper. Original, Open Forum and Network papers are peer reviewed. The Student Forum Section may include theoretical, methodological, and application orientations of ongoing research including case studies, as well as, contextual action research experiences. Papers in this section are normally single-authored and are also formally reviewed. Curmudgeon Corner is a short opinionated column on trends in technology, arts, science and society, commenting emphatically on issues of concern to the research community and wider society. Normal word length: Original and Network Articles 10k, Open Forum 8k, Student Forum 6k, Curmudgeon 1k. The exception to the co-author limit of Original and Open Forum (4), Network (10), Student (3) and Curmudgeon (2) articles will be considered for their special contributions. Please do not send your submissions by email but use the "Submit manuscript" button. NOTE TO AUTHORS: The Journal expects its authors to include, in their submissions: a) An acknowledgement of the pre-accept/pre-publication versions of their manuscripts on non-commercial and academic sites. b) Images: obtain permissions from the copyright holder/original sources. c) Formal permission from their ethics committees when conducting studies with people.