‘Early-stage’ Al begins to make waves at China sex toy expo
Chine manufactures around 70 percent of the mo play at the expo, meating matutic P STH/AFPS AFP Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an Al-driven shift in the
industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures around 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair-whether that be technicolour teritacied dildos or hyper-realistic personalised silicone dolls. 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 sex with robots. 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.
“But it’s still very early-stage for a lot of this,” he told AFP on Friday. 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.
The Ana-Pactic region is seen y growth One of its masturbators can sync with video to replicate the actions on screen-either with preprogrammed. content via Svakom’s app, or with an Al plug-in that watches a video on approved sites in real-time and mimics it.
The company has also partnered with
firms that offer Al chatbot ‘fantasy
partners
“You can ask the Al to control your toy said Hultman. “You create your own girlfriend and actually interact. And now you can basically touch your body through the toy 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 Al “girlfriend to control a
toy
A salesperson told AFP that demand from China’s younger generation, with more disposable income and higher standards, was changing the market. “Although we make sex toys, we’re
trying to change the mindset of our community and make (the focus) less pornographic,” he said. Sistalk’s app can function as a social media platform, with users socialising and sharing their hobbies and likes.
They can also choose to virtually hook.
up and control each other’s sex toys.
“It’s definitely a new trend, in Europe
It’s quite developing-many customers ask for it,” said Malgorzata
Zasada, of company Oninder, named
to sound like dating app Tinder and imitates the way users swipe to find
matches
“In Asia, in China, it’s not so popular
right now. But it’s changing and I think
it will be a new hit.”
Realistic sex robots, meanwhile,
seemed a long way off-the few on
display moved jerkily, with limited and
badly synced speech.
Enlarging the market
sacone products daw
contrast
more traditional stals, which feature walls of Me
plastic gesitats that anvolve not
Photo: STR/AFPSource AFP
Experts have flagged the many
unanswered ethical questions around
the growing use of Al for intimacy.
At the moment, in China, the pool of
people engaging is still small-
Sistalk’s domestic app only has
around 500 users, minuscule in terms
of China’s population.
The Asia-Pacific region is seen as a
key growth market for sex toys
though
At the stail of a company named Wet
Stuff, representative Ye Pei showed
AFP the Australian company’s
Chinese-targeted lubricant flavoured
with baijiu, a popular local alcohol.
Attitudes towards sex have changed
drastically in recent years, mused the
40-year-old.
When 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… the
saleswoman might tell me that these
condoms are ultra-thin, these ones
make you last longer, these ones have
raised dots,” he laughed.
focuses exclusively on toys for
women,
“Everyone has become more and more
able to accept (adult products), rather
than feeling ashamed about it,” she
said
dll were on display at an adult products
ibition in Shanghai Photo: STR/AFP
AFP
Toys now use tech to incorporate aspects of well-being as well as
pleasure.
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.
Others are said to recognise when their user is climaxing and remember the pulse patterns that led them there.
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.
“I think there’s a lot of things changing
in the industry,” said Svakom’s Hultman.
The technology aspect, the Al. it’s
growing so fast, it will be very interesting to see where all this goes.
