Author David Levy has worked in the field of Artificial Intelligence since graduating from St. Andrews University, Scotland, in 1967, and is the author of the book, Robots Unlimited: Life in a Virtual Age. Read his recent interview here .

The trend of robotics research and development, from industrial robots to service robots to companion and carer robots for the elderly, has as its logical continuation the design and construction of partner robots, sufficiently human-like and sufficiently appealing in various ways to take on the role of a partner in a relationship with a human being. This trend immediately raises many questions relating to humans loving and being loved by robots, treating robots as life partners and being similarly treated by them, marrying robots and having sex with robots.

Love and Marriage with Robots

Nowadays scientists, psychologists and philosophers are asking, more and more often, questions such as “Can robots fall in love?” Such questions might seem to be unnecessary because love is an experience peculiar to warm-blooded mammals—anything in a programmed entity is merely a simulation. But if a robot exhibits all the same signs and behaviours of a human in love, and if it professes its love for a human, then surely, so far as the recipient is concerned, their robot is indeed in love with them, whatever being in love means to a robot.

An even more challenging psychological, sociological and ethical question for the future is “Will people fall in love with robots?” I believe the answer to be an unqualified “Yes”, even though this idea will be abhorrent to many people. But consider the millions of people who develop extremely strong emotional attachments to their pet animals, and the rapidity with which millions developed emotional attachments to their Tamgotchis, both of which are indications as to the strength of emotion that can be felt by humans for non-humans, and as to the feelings that millions will develop for robots when they are more emotionally sophisticated than both animals and Tamagotchis.

Let us now consider this notion, that people can fall in love with a robot. In the past, before the Internet was invented, many people had pen friends with whom they exchanged letters. Through this type of correspondence some people developed long-term friendships, occasionally falling in love with their pen friends and agreeing to marriage even without having met them. Moderately unusual, yes, but only moderately. In recent years this phenomenon has been replicated countless times in cyberspace romances. It is easy to understand how two people can fall in love on the basis of their communications with each other, even without physical contact. Much of the emotional basis for love is based on your feelings about your partner’s character, their personality, their interests, ideas, how your partner talks (or writes) to you, . . . so many things that can be communicated verbally.
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