A Chinese sex doll maker says it is expecting a massive 30% rise in sales, as the company integrates AI that makes the dolls ‘more responsive and interactive.’
WMDolls, one of China‘s biggest sex doll makers, said its adoption of artificial intelligence into their dolls was a major driver in the boosted sales.
The company’s founder and chief executive Liu Jiangxia told the South China Morning Post: ‘It makes the dolls more responsive and interactive, which offers users a better experience.’
The newspaper reported that WMDolls has integrated their dolls with specialised chips that can connect to several Large Language Models (LLMs) including Meta‘s Llama AI, to allow users to have conversations with their products.
But many fear that this may incentivise people to use their dolls in extreme ways.
Just this week, a man who kept a female doll in a ‘concealed’ room at a western Sydney warehouse was forced to deny the rubber mannequin looks like a child and says there is no evidence he used it for sex.
Michael Brereton is facing trial in Penrith District Court where he has pleaded not guilty to one count of possessing a child-like sex doll.
The 56-year-old from Quakers Hill admits he kept the the doll in a storage facility at nearby Kings Park but disputes it resembles a person under 18 years of age.
WMDolls, one of China’s biggest sex doll makers, said its adoption of artificial intelligence into their dolls was a major driver in the boosted sales
WMDolls has integrated their dolls with specialised chips that can connect to several Large Language Models (LLMs) including Meta’s Llama AI, to allow users to have conversations with their products
The court heard the doll was 142cm to 143cm tall (4’8″), of ‘relatively slim’ build, with narrow hips and other features consistent with the appearance of a child.
Commonwealth prosecutor David Jordan said the doll also had ‘visible breasts’ and a vaginal cavity and vulva, which were consistent with it being used as a sex toy.
When the doll was found by police it was wearing a sleeveless slip or shift dress, joggers and a hair clip featuring the character Anna from the Disney animated film Frozen.
‘It’s the sort of hair clip that a child would wear, I’m going to suggest to you, opposed to someone 18 or older,’ Mr Jordan told the jury.
The doll was naked and wearing a waist-length wig on Wednesday when it was presented to the six men and six women who will decide whether Brereton is guilty.
A policewoman used scissors to cut open a paper evidence bag then stood the doll up against the court’s back wall.
Senior Constable Hayley Birch used latex gloves to handle the doll and pulled hair away from its face so its features could be seen by the jurors.
A man who kept a female doll in a ‘concealed’ room at a western Sydney warehouse denies the rubber mannequin looks like a child and says there is no evidence he used it for sex. Michael Brereton is pictured outside Penrith District Court
A jury heard the doll was 142cm to 143cm tall (4’8″), of ‘relatively slim’ build, with narrow hips and other features consistent with the appearance of a child. it is pictured in front of a police height chart
Brereton, who has a pair of red lips tattooed on the left side of his neck, sat in the dock as Senior Constable Birch then produced the dress and shoes the doll had previously worn.
To prove the offence, the Crown not only has to establish Brereton was in possession of the doll – which he admits – but two other elements of the indictment.
One of those elements is that that the doll ‘resembles a person who is, or appears to be, under the 18 years of age’ – which Brereton vehemently denies.
The other is that ‘a reasonable person would consider it likely that the doll is intended to be used by a person to simulate sexual intercourse’.
There are also major fears that AI companies are committing ‘theft’ on an ‘industrial scale’, according to one Labour MP.
Alison Hume is one of a number of Labour MPs raising concerns about the threat posed to creative industries by AI, amid accusations that the Government is pandering to tech giants.
Ministers are proposing that big tech companies be allowed to ignore traditional copyright rules when training their AI systems.
They are suggesting that creative organisations, including those in the music business and publishing, should have to register an opt out if they do not want their work exploited by such firms. At the moment their copyright is protected automatically.
Alison Hume is one of a number of Labour MPs raising concerns about the threat posed to creative industries by AI, amid accusations that the Government is pandering to tech giants
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle insisted the UK has an ability to support a ‘cutting-edge AI sector, with world-leading creative industries’.
Speaking in Parliament, Ms Hume said she had discovered this week that the subtitles from one of her episodes of BBC drama New Tricks had been used to help write scripts.
The Labour MP for Scarborough and Whitby told MPs: ‘Twice a year, I receive the royalties collected for me by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society.
‘I am paid fairly for my original work when it is rebroadcast around the world or on digital platforms.
‘This week, I discovered that the subtitles from one of my episodes of New Tricks have been scraped and are being used to create learning materials for artificial intelligence.
‘Along with thousands of other films and television shows, my original work is being used by generative AI to write scripts which one day may replace versions produced by mere humans like me.’
She added: ‘This is theft, and it’s happening on an industrial scale. As the law stands, artificial intelligence companies don’t have to be transparent about what they are stealing.’
