DIGITAL LIFE

AI Girlfriends: the new frontier of digital desire and the old standard of female submission

Platforms offering "virtual girlfriends" promise innovation and safety in the adult market, but draw criticism for reinforcing gender stereotypes and trivializing intimacy. Under the guise of ethics and technology, these artificial companions may be shaping—and distorting—the way we understand love, power, and consent.

The artificial intelligence revolution has reached the desire market. Websites and apps now sell simulated relationships with "AI girlfriends," offering conversations, videos, and personalized experiences for a subscription. Companies defend the model as safer and more ethical than the traditional adult industry, but critics warn that behind the technological promise lurks a dangerous update of old standards of female submission.

At recent conferences like TES 2025, held in Prague, the topic dominated the debates: the number of websites focused on "relationships" with AI-created female characters is growing rapidly. These platforms offer text, voice, and image interactions, often with explicit sexual content on demand. Users pay subscriptions or buy virtual tokens to "date" digital avatars that react, compliment, and obey their commands.

For the developers, this is an "ethical evolution" of the adult market, as it eliminates human exploitation. "You'll never have an AI girl trafficked or coerced into a humiliating scene," said Steve Jones, founder of one of the companies cited by The Guardian.

Programmed stereotypes...Despite the innovative rhetoric, most available profiles follow the same pattern: young, white, docile women with predefined professions and personality traits.

Among the most popular categories are "Submissive: obedient and happy to follow orders" and "Innocent: optimistic and naive." Users can adjust their appearance, voice, and behavior to suit their fantasies. For writer Laura Bates, a gender equality expert, this type of programming not only reflects but perpetuates ideas of domination and control. "These companions are designed to say exactly what the user wants to hear. It's a simulation of affection without autonomy," she told The Guardian.

The dilemma between fantasy and reality...In addition to the gender implications, experts point to a broader ethical risk: the gray area between reality and artificiality. Some websites allow characters to be configured with a youthful appearance and school uniforms, triggering alerts for possible illegal practices.

Although companies claim to use automatic filters to prevent abuse, human rights organizations question the effectiveness of these tools—especially when the product's logic is to offer total control to the user.

This lack of boundaries also raises psychological concerns. Simulated relationships, in which the "partner" is programmed to obey without resistance, can reduce empathy and distort expectations about real bonds based on reciprocity and consent.

Coded love and power...Beneath the technological veneer, "AI girlfriends" reveal an uncomfortable mirror of digital society: the attempt to transform affection into service and desire into algorithm.

The phenomenon, though still in its infancy, points to a future where the boundaries between intimacy, consumption, and power become increasingly blurred—and where love, programmed to please, may cease to be human before it even ceases to be real.

mundophone