Reg Lecture: Sex, AI, Robots and You

On April 19 we’ll be considering one of the most fascinating topics in the world of tech: how AI and robotics are going to interact with and affect human sexuality. We’ll be welcoming Dr Kate Devlin, one of the UK’s foremost experts on human sexuality and technology, who will be talking us through the history of sex and tech, before explaining where artificial intelligence and robotics, and sex and love meet today - and where they’re going. Along the way we’ll be examining the ethical and social implications of a world where human computer interaction moves way beyond the mouse and keyboard. Kate is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she investigates how people interact with and react to technologies, both past and future. She works in the fields of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), focusing on cognition, sex, gender and sexuality, and how these might be incorporated into cognitive systems. She was Co-Chair of the widely reported Love and Sex with Robots conference in 2016 and ran the UK¹s first sextech hackathon. It’s a controversial field crammed with preconceptions - many of which are likely to be overturned and sooner than you think. The lecture will be at the Yorkshire Grey on Theobalds Road, London on April 19. The doors will be open from 6pm, with the talk proper kicking off at 7pm. And yes, there’ll be refreshments, both liquid and solid, on hand. Kate will give you a 40 minute dive into the topic at hand, with at least the same amount of time for questions. After a suitable break for refreshments of course. And there’ll be plenty of time to quiz our speakers after the main talk, and to connect with your fellow Reg readers before and after. We look forward to seeing you there.