The Doll Forum

Hi there,

I'm a documentary producer at the Guardian newspaper in the UK. We are working on a documentary, looking at the future of love dolls and how AI and robotics will make doll ownership go mainstream. We have access to Realdoll's latest robotic doll, and will be filming at their workshop in California in February.

I'm looking for doll owners who can talk to me about what its like living with a doll, and what the future of dolls - particularly robotics and AI - might mean to them. We are particularly looking for doll owners who live in or near Las Vegas or Los Angeles.

The Guardian prides itself on being fair, honest and respectful in its reporting and any subjects in this film would be treated as such. Initial conversations will be in full confidence and off the record.

Interested? Know someone who is? Respond here or get in touch

tom.silverstone@guardian.co.uk

Thanks,

Tom

Requests like this are akin to asking gay men to go on-camera to talk about their sex lives in America circa 1955. The repercussions could be insignificant, or they could be severe.

I don't know exactly what it's going to take to mainstream this technology, but the demand is certainly there (though pushed underground through social censure). My guess is that what's needed are sex robots that are utilitarian first, and sex-capable second. Anita in the U.K. television series 'Humans' is precisely marketed this way. I don't see any reason that shouldn't work (setting aside the sheer engineering difficulty).

Till then, the Guardian will likely need to talk to the usual suspects, such as David Levy and others, who approach this from at least a quasi-academic standpoint.

Hi Tom: I hope you guys are doing coverage for the event being held at the British Academy that will be covering these topics that you are discussing about for the Guardian documentary. The event is scheduled for this Friday, Feb. 3rd. The "usual suspects" as Rubyfan describes them, will be attending this event in London. But, in addition to David Levy and the lovely Kathleen Richardson , Steve Worswick, programmer of the Mitsuku chatbot will be discussing this topic as well. I am very interested in what he has to say and if he would actually integrate his "Mitsuku" programming into a robot within this particular capacity, that would be a step in the right direction.

The programme is available here.

Also, Monday, Feb. 13th, writers Sam Vincent and Johnathan Brackley of the Television series Humans, will be discussing the subject of A.I. and other topics related to the TV series. Creating Humans is the name of this event and it would be awesome Tom if you and your Guardian crew could interview these writers.

Anyway... good luck with your project in the U.S. and I'm sure Matt will give you a great insight into his new venture with Realbotix.

I'm willing to be interviewed. I live in Brooklyn, N.Y., but willing to travel to England at my own expense. I've been wanting to visit England for years, but needed an excuse to do so.

Thanks for the replies all.

Just re-upping this. We'd be really interested to speak to someone in the Las Vegas area - do let me know if you'd be interested or know anyone who is.

Thanks,

Tom

I emailed but did not get a reply.

Best wishes

Harem