Is Germany’s AI Brothel Unethical Since Sex Dolls Can’t Consent?

The Only Humans are the Clients but Some Critics Say NIMBY

The ethics of sex work have been debated for centuries but have always focused on human providers and customers. Berlin Germany’s recently opened, and first-ever AI Cybrothel has introduced new ethics questions, ruffled old moral feathers, sparked fresh safety concerns, and expanded the discussion of sex worker rights to include robot dolls.

Robot dolls!?

Yes, robot dolls. Robot dolls that are ready and able to provide sexual services to clients of the German Cybrothel. Chances are good you haven’t heard of it, nor are you familiar with the sex doll brothel in Japan or the one in a UK business park in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. According to Future of Sex, there are also sex doll brothels operating in Prague, Czechia and in Toronto, Canada. Others, including Houston, TX’s Aura Dolls Brothel, have been forced to close.

But what is a sex doll brothel, let alone an AI sex doll brothel?

At its most basic, a sex doll brothel is a lot like a Nevada-style brothel, only staffed by sex dolls instead of flesh and blood providers. Add AI technology via a 4D VR headset and the experience becomes far more immersive and interactive; some say more realistic, as well.

But why? Especially in Germany, where sex work has been legalized. According to Matthias Smetana, the co-founder of the Cybrbrothel, business for traditional providers has decreased by 30-percent compared to before the pandemic. Some of this is because so many women, especially, have taken their craft online for cam work, OnlyFans, and similar sites. Additionally, clients are more interested than ever in the possibilities intrinsic in a human-machine sexual encounter.

Man of Many reports that Smetana believes traditional clients “will be gone in the next 10 to 15 years. So, I think right now the sex industry will move on more in the VR direction. Having sex in the digital world and the physical world at the same time.” Add the privacy element, which allows visitors to explore their fantasies without judgment or criticism about their performance, and you’ve got a VRX session that feels safe and, at the very least, exotic.

Like a traditional bordello, clients choose a life-size, sexy companion and book a private furnished suite for a few hours or even overnight. During their stay, clients can watch 4D porn starring their date, look out at the city from their balcony, and sext with their companion. Although the Cybrbrothel’s workers can neither move nor speak, Smetana assured News.com.au that the goal is to develop dolls that respond to touch and are able to speak.

Fellow founder of Cybrothel, Philipp Fussengger, told Euro Weekly News that he agrees with his colleague. “Many people feel more comfortable sharing private matters with a machine because it doesn’t judge,” he observed.

Supporting Fussengger’s claim are more than 225 million downloads of AI companion apps from AI-driven Google Play Store’s SplitMetrics.

Although flesh-to-flesh contact is not part of the AI Cybrothel experience, the chances of being rejected or contracting an STI are non-existent, although the dolls will need to be sanitized after each use. Further, companions don’t tell their clients that they’re lousy in bed or a pervert because they want to do something kinky.

While many may find that last thing especially important, some French feminists find it alarming since the dolls can not give consent, especially not for more extreme fantasies brought to life. Feminists in Sweden object to the fact the dolls’ behavior toward their clients is so permissive and results in what they call an obligation to “obey their smallest command” since they “cannot say no to something that the man wants.”

It was concerns such as these that contributed to the closing of French doll brothels, with Lorraine Questiaux of Mouvement du Nid declaring that they earn their “money from simulating the rape of a woman.”

Regardless of the personal preferences of sex robots, those in the tech industry worry about privacy issues since the brothels collect a large amount of personal data and are known to share it with third parties. Other misgivings relate to the potential for humans to lose interest in intimacy with other humans, which could result in losing interpersonal social skills and becoming even less clear than we are now about issues of consent, reinforcement of harmful gender stereotypes, and what activities a sex partner can reasonably be expected to participate in.

As with every new form of AI technology, there are those who fret about user isolation and addiction in addition to the potential for AI scenarios to demean female pleasure and focus exclusively on heterosexual intercourse.

For those ready to book an evening with their favorite sex doll robot, it’s important to know that not all the feedback about Cybrothels is negative. AI technology could easily push for new forms of entertainment, especially that which assists in personal exploration.

Despite feminist worries about the ability of sex dolls to consent to rough sex, let alone romantic lovemaking, AI fans see it differently, opining that since a human is not on the receiving end of the sex, there are no reasonable concerns about consent on the part of the sex doll. If nothing else, as Philipp Hamburger of Lovehoney suggests, the tech can be used to enhance our sex with other people instead of replacing it.