Ok, so stick with me here. It's going to get medium spicy today.
I'm looking at how lonely, sleep deprived, stressed adults are snuggling up with stuffed bunnies to get to sleep at night.
And I make a prediction that the loneliness epidemic, combined with millennial nostalgia, and advances in AI will collide with the future of sex tech in unsettling ways.
Anyway, the business case is that products and services that address loneliness (without involving other people) and that promise a better night's sleep and less stress have a ready target market.
What are your thoughts - is co-sleeping with a teddybear as an adult endearing or concerning?
Can we replace human intimacy with things? (Even cuddly, soft, smart, vibrating things? (Any how much money will we spend trying regardless??)
Let me know your thoughts.
Read more:
The case for sleeping with a stuffed animal : https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/adults-who-sleep-with-stuffed-animals/
Just add a teddy? https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/sex-toy-company-uses-chatgpt-create-euphoric-ai-experience
Sleep tourism: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/19/sleep-tourism-is-booming-heres-why
Now what if your AI boyfriend had a physical avatar you could cuddle? https://www.thecut.com/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-chatbot-replika-boyfriend.html
On sleep, sex toys and stuffed animals