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China manufactures around 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the ‘hardware’ on display at the expo, including realistic dolls – Copyright AFP STR<\/small><\/em><\/p>\nRebecca BAILEY<\/em><\/p>\nAmong the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an AI-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed.<\/p>\n
China manufactures around 70 percent of the world\u2019s sex toys, most of it the \u201chardware\u201d on display at the fair \u2014 whether that be technicolour tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalised silicone dolls.<\/p>\n
But smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and American brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to an ultimate sci-fi fantasy \u2014 sex with robots.<\/p>\n
Integrating artificial intelligence has become more popular in the last two years, according to Hannes Hultman, Europe sales manager for Chinese sex toy firm Svakom.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s still very early-stage for a lot of this,\u201d he told AFP on Friday.<\/p>\n
Svakom, one of the better-known Chinese brands overseas, is among those venturing further into the field of teledildonics, using networked toys to create virtual sexual encounters.<\/p>\n
One of its masturbators can sync with video to replicate the actions on screen \u2014 either with preprogrammed content via Svakom\u2019s app, or with an AI plug-in that watches a video on approved sites in real-time and mimics it.<\/p>\n
The company has also partnered with firms that offer AI chatbot \u201cfantasy partners\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can ask the AI to control your toy,\u201d said Hultman. \u201cYou create your own girlfriend and actually interact. And now you can basically touch your body through the toy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sistalk Technology, a Beijing-based company that made phone software before pivoting to the adult industry, also has a feature on its app that allows an AI \u201cgirlfriend\u201d to control a toy.<\/p>\n
A salesperson told AFP that demand from China\u2019s younger generation, with more disposable income and higher standards, was changing the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough we make sex toys, we\u2019re trying to change the mindset of our community and make (the focus) less pornographic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sistalk\u2019s app can function as a social media platform, with users socialising and sharing their hobbies and likes.<\/p>\n
They can also choose to virtually hook up and control each other\u2019s sex toys.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a new trend, in Europe it\u2019s quite developing \u2014 many customers ask for it,\u201d said Malgorzata Zasada, of company Oninder, named to sound like dating app Tinder and imitates the way users swipe to find matches.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Asia, in China, it\u2019s not so popular right now. But it\u2019s changing and I think it will be a new hit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Realistic sex robots, meanwhile, seemed a long way off \u2014 the few on display moved jerkily, with limited and badly synced speech.<\/p>\n
\u2013\u00a0Enlarging the market \u2013<\/p>\n
Experts have flagged the many unanswered ethical questions around the growing use of AI for intimacy.<\/p>\n
At the moment, in China, the pool of people engaging is still small \u2014 Sistalk\u2019s domestic app only has around 500 users, minuscule in terms of China\u2019s population.<\/p>\n
The Asia-Pacific region is seen as a key growth market for sex toys though.<\/p>\n
At the stall of a company named Wet Stuff, representative Ye Pei showed AFP the Australian company\u2019s Chinese-targeted lubricant flavoured with baijiu, a popular local alcohol.<\/p>\n
Attitudes towards sex have changed drastically in recent years, mused the 40-year-old.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was 20, when I went to buy condoms at the drugstore I would immediately stick them in my pocket and run off. But now\u2026 the saleswoman might tell me that these condoms are ultra-thin, these ones make you last longer, these ones have raised dots,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n
Another change has been the rise in \u201cwomen\u2019s power\u201d, said a representative from BeU, a brand that focuses exclusively on toys for women.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has become more and more able to accept (adult products), rather than feeling ashamed about it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Toys now use tech to incorporate aspects of well-being as well as pleasure.<\/p>\n
One vibrator on display at the expo was advertised as being able to predict ovulation by measuring internal temperature, as well as help train pelvic floor muscles.<\/p>\n
Others are said to recognise when their user is climaxing and remember the pulse patterns that led them there.<\/p>\n
The sleek silicone products drew a stark contrast with more traditional stalls, many of which featured walls of life-like, often enormous, plastic genitals that involved no tech at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of things changing in the industry,\u201d said Svakom\u2019s Hultman.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe technology aspect, the AI\u2026 it\u2019s growing so fast, it will be very interesting to see where all this goes. But we have big plans.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
‘Early-stage’ AI begins to make waves at China sex toy expo
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#Earlystage #begins #waves #China #sex #toy #expo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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