Human-Robot Relationships Will Never Make the Leap From Sex to Love

Could a robot designed as a sexual companion ever feel something like love for me? And could I, as a human with emotional intelligence, ever feel love for it? These questions challenge our definition of love, but they also challenge our understanding of both human emotion and artificial intelligence. Will intimate relationships between humans and robots ever get beyond just sex? This is a topic up for debate at the 12th Human Choice and Computers Conference in Manchester, UK, where academics and researchers are gathering this week to discuss humanity's relationship--sexual, romantic, or otherwise--with our AI counterparts.