As part of the study, the company Joi AI hired 10 people to self-satisfy with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), writes Wired. As the corporation suggested, such a practice can help “solve the problem of male loneliness” and cope with addictions.
Joi AI, as noted on the US company's website, is a platform for communicating with AI avatars – from “official digital doubles of real-life celebrities” to characters “created from the imagination” of customers. Through real-time AI chat, photos and videos, users are encouraged to “create that chemistry that is missing in your personal life.”
In order to study the interaction of living people with AI characters, the startup previously launched a call on social networks, to which 150,000 people responded. Of these, Joi AI selected 10 volunteers who received $2,000 each during the month of the experiment in July. Only six completed the study.
Participants were required to masturbate 6 days a week: twice with digital assistants, and the rest of the time without them. Each subject recorded their mood, energy level, craving for bad habits and self-discipline.
During video conversations, AI characters showed private parts of their bodies, simulated sexual behavior and expressed themselves openly.
One of the participants in the experiment was a 38-year-old Indonesian trader who introduced himself as Keshav. He reported positive experiences interacting with AI avatars.
“It feels like you are communicating with a real person. Because I'm an introvert, it's hard for me to just open up to people. It kind of helps me understand what to expect, how to talk to a partner or how to find one,” Keshav told Wired.
The publication reviewed 134 reports of self-gratification sessions. The data showed that participants' stress levels decreased by 25% and their concentration increased by 17%. A pre-study survey found that 37% of respondents were open to or already practicing AI masturbation.
The results also claimed a 44% decrease in participants’ cravings for nicotine, alcohol, junk food and scrolling through social networks. Julie Levine, head of brand and communications at Joi AI, suggested that self-gratification could be a way to combat addiction.
“When you ejaculate, you get a surge of dopamine. We wanted our counselors to track whether their bad habits were increasing or decreasing and how it was affecting their self-discipline. The fact that their cravings for bad habits have decreased seems like a real breakthrough to me,” Levine said.
At the same time, the company did not provide any scientific evidence. King's College London sex technology researcher Chloe Locatelli was one of those invited to take part in the experiment as she works on a joint project with Joi AI. She was more reserved in her assessment of the results and expressed concern about the “level of interactivity and personalization” of such entertainment.
“I think self-gratification has many benefits for physical health and well-being. If it becomes a kind of crutch and your only form of sexual interaction, then I would not encourage it,” Locatelli explained.
Nicole Prause, a neuroscientist who studies sexuality and human addictions, criticized the trial. She called the study's findings a “gross exaggeration,” highlighting the lack of scientific evidence that masturbation reduces substance abuse. She also criticized the methodology used by Joi AI.
“Because masturbation can never be a placebo—people always know whether they have masturbated or not—it is important to use markers that are less subject to bias than self-report. There are dozens of cognitive tests that could be used to supplement self-report. I'm like that [в исследовании] I don’t see it,” Prause noted in a comment to Wired.
The neuroscientist, who is working on her laboratory study of male orgasms, still confirmed that masturbation is, according to her, an effective way to cope with bad mood. In Prause's sample, a number of subjects experienced “radical changes,” including a decrease in anxiety.
Wired itself wonders whether users will become so accustomed to their artificial interlocutors that they will increasingly move away from real communication. A biologist previously told RTVI about how artificial intelligence is already beginning to outperform doctors.
