A lacanian re-reading of sex robots: human subjectivity and programmable compliance on desire
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Products that market themselves as “sex robots” (SR) today are programmable prototype systems rather than autonomous companions. Drawing on a compact Lacanian lens— objet petit a , the gaze, and the Name-of-the-Father—I show how programmable compliance short-circuits structural lack, shifting the user from desire to drive. SRs deliver a sense of being-looked-at through algorithmic attunement: the “gaze” mirrors the user’s preferences while sidestepping the unstable scrutiny of the (human) Other. Conceptually, I redescribe SRs as algorithmically designed surrogates whose upshot is compliance, not alterity. Analytically, I detail the mechanisms—pre-scripted role routines, affective response templates, and embodied cues—that can simulate recognition without installing a genuine gaze. I translate Lacanian limit into a programmatic ethics of alterity: principle for refusal and consent transparency. Implemented as design and governance constraints, these measures preserve otherness without anthropomorphizing the device and reduce the normalization of gender-domination scripts. The ethical analysis, coupled with a psychoanalytic account of programmable intimacy and actionable guidelines for configuring gendered identities, aims to prevent technological mediation from eroding the conditions of subjectivity and the formation of trust.
Source: AI and Ethics
Author: Chenyu Lu
Institution: Shanghai Normal University
Language: English
Subfield: Safety Research
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
OpenAlex ID: W7147545563