Smart Dolls: China Sex Doll Manufacturers Introduce Artificial Intelligence

As Beijing strives to turn the country into a stronghold of artificial intelligence and embed technology in all aspects of life, some Chinese entrepreneurs are exploring new horizons: sex dolls.

WMDOLL, one of the largest doll manufacturers in China, which is based in the southeastern Guangdong province, launched what it calls artificial intelligence dolls in late 2016. The company offers features from simple conversation to moving eyes, arms, and torsos. Customers can personalize their dolls with a variety of designs including height, hairstyle, and eye color.

13 PHOTOS

1. The AI features in dolls are still very simple: they can answer questions, but they cannot have long conversations. The doll uses a dictionary by connecting to a database maintained by Chinese tech giant Baidu.

2. The firm recognizes that improving features has been challenging because experts are not motivated to put a lot of effort into developing AI technology for adult products.

3. “Of course, we don't expect our dolls to look like humans, we are just making adult products,” said Liu Ding, WMDOLL Product Manager. "But we will certainly add more advanced technology ... for example, making the movement of the limbs more natural."

4. Parts of sex dolls on operating platforms awaiting inspection.

5. Employees work at the doll factory.

6. Cooling the doll's head in front of the fan.

7. Assembly process.

8. All dolls are checked and photographed.

9. Inserting eyes.

10. Workers check the AI system of a sex doll named Lucy.

11. Everything should be as natural as possible.

12. Heads of dolls with AI from the inside.

13. Three sex dolls. All are named Lucy and each has moving parts controlled by remote control.