Experts claim the sex bot's family friendly filter that switches off its overtly sexual tone doesn't make it any less harmful to have around children
A SEX robot with a "family mode" that dials down her dirty talk has been blasted as "profoundly damaging" for kids by academics.
The controversial droid named Samantha went on sale in the UK last September and made its TV debut that same month.
Samantha's "personality" is powered by an artificial intelligence system that allows her to react to the touch and voice of users and even turn down their advances if she isn't treated well.
Sex robot enthusiast Aarran Lee Wright, 36, appeared on ITV's This Morning with his Samantha doll shortly after they went on sale and caused alarm by suggesting he lets his kids play with it.
Admitting that people have slammed the bot as "strange" and for "perverts", the dad of two added "my wife has always been supportive".
In particular, he praised the doll's so-called family mode that stops her from spouting kinky lines like “I can take many times, much more love, just because you can give it, and I take it all.”
Wright revealed that his children, aged three and five, play with Samantha and watch TV alongside her. And his wife said: “I am not worried she will replace me. She is just someone there like a family member.”
Now a gaggle of profs have slammed the idea of a family-friendly sex robot as "damaging" for kids.
“Children will imitate machines if brought up by them,” Dr Kathleen Richardson, professor of ethics and culture of robots and AI at De Montfort University, told .
“A daughter is going to grow up and think maybe this happened because Mummy wasn’t beautiful enough – am I?"
“They’ll learn that women only have certain uses. Then they start to use that as a template for how they interact intimately with others – this is profoundly damaging.”
Dr Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, professor of psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, challenged the idea that Samantha can adjust so easily, considering her sexual features.
“It’s like the Barbie doll image, telling girls how they should look. If the culture gives you this image, what are you going do?” she told New Statesmen.
“What a shame that, as they grow up, this is what they learn about their dad.”
But the prof also questioned whether the government or social services could intervene in the matter: “There are privacy issues there. I think our job is to educate the public about why it’s problematic,” she added.
While some sex droid owners have suggested the machines can provide company for disabled or lonely men, the stigma around the bots refuses to go away.
A recent study by leading medics warned the rising use of “sexbots” could spread sexually-transmitted infections, worsen impotence and normalise “sexual deviancy”.
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