94Ha Viewpoint
The explosion of DeepSeek and humanoid robots has unexpectedly made a secretive and somewhat difficult-to-talk-about “Made in China” niche track go viral.
WMdoll, an adult doll manufacturer located in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, has become the focus of public opinion because of its adoption of open source big models.
WMdoll was founded in 2010 by Liu Jiangxia and Wang Qingfeng. At first, it mainly produced clothing mannequins, and then turned to adult dolls. The Hong Kong “South China Morning Post” reported on February 16 that Liu Jiangxia said that the adult dolls launched by the company received good feedback from users after being connected to open source big models such as ChatGPT.
Rumor has it that this doll is more responsive and interactive. For example, the doll will praise the user based on their performance, or comfort them: “It’s okay, two minutes is also great.”
Blue Whale News quoted Max, the head of Jinsan Wanmei, as saying: “I really don’t know if it will say jokes like ‘two minutes’. Maybe the customer asked, and the doll would give such feedback.”
However, with the breakthrough of the generative AI big model, adult dolls do have the ability to understand, analyze and respond for the first time.
Max gave two examples: First, the doll will form a portrait based on what the user said and did. If the words are rude, AI will define the user as a person who is not very polite. Over time, when the user scolds it, it will scold back.
Second, the doll also has a long-term memory. For example, if the user tells the doll that he is sick today, and then expresses that he wants to take it out to play, the doll may remind the user to rest well.
In fact, another adult doll manufacturer in Shenzhen, Starpery Technology, also announced last year that it would connect adult dolls to AI models, but it did not cause much splash.
Of course, the concept of adult dolls connecting to AI has a long history. As early as 2015, British futurist Dr. Ian Pearson boldly predicted that robots might even replace human sexual partners around 2050.
American companies have seized the opportunity very early. In 2017, Realbotix launched the world’s first female AI sex robot Harmony, and the next year launched the first male sex robot Henry, which caused a sensation and caused huge controversy. Over the years, the company has also worked hard to get rid of the label of sex robots and pay more attention to the concept of companionship. Recently, it announced that it is trying to connect its products to large models such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek.
Max, the head of Jinsan Wanmei, emphasized that people cannot always have only physiological needs, and products should provide more companionship value.
He also mentioned that the adult dolls that the company has released only have voice but no visual function to identify objects, and have not yet been connected to DeepSeek. On the one hand, DeekSeek is not applicable to certain countries and regions; on the other hand, DeepSeek’s reasoning process is still a bit too long for dolls to react.
Single economy and lonely economy
With the sudden popularity of new technology upstarts such as DeepSeek and Yushu Technology among the “Six Little Dragons of Hangzhou”, ordinary people have not only witnessed the intelligence of AI, but are also more willing to let humanoid robots enter their daily lives.
When popular concepts such as humanoid robots, large models, DeepSeek and AI collide with each other, adult dolls have made a gorgeous turn from “physiological tools” to “emotional partners”, and a market space of hundreds of billions of yuan has opened up. The Chinese capital market has smelled huge business opportunities and has been chasing after “humanoid companion robot” concept stocks, triggering a surge in daily price limits.
Analysts believe that this investment interest is mainly supported by the “single economy” and “lonely economy”.
According to official data, the number of single people in China will reach 240 million in 2023, and it is estimated that by the end of 2024, it is likely to exceed 300 million. This large group reflects the dilemma of lack of emotional companionship.
In addition, investors’ imagination of the application scenarios of humanoid companion robots is not limited to this. In an aging society, they will be used to accompany the elderly living alone, provide emotional support and health monitoring; in family scenes, they can also take on housework, tutor children in learning, and even become the center of family entertainment.
Having said that, as more and more young people in China are unwilling to get married, and there are more elderly people living alone, is the rise of humanoid companion robots a solution, or will it bring a greater social crisis? Does it bring people closer or further away?
Some comments joked that AI partners may be able to adjust the intensity of love words according to your electrocardiogram fluctuations, and even take the initiative to suggest “pause the intimate mode today” when you work overtime. However, when algorithms know how to stimulate dopamine secretion better than humans, “Are we solving loneliness or creating a large-scale emotional withdrawal crisis?”
In reality, there are many men who expect AI girlfriends. In the eyes of some people, choosing an AI partner can avoid marriage risks and do not have to bear the sky-high bride price.
The self-media “Financial Story Collection” quoted a 30-year-old programmer jokingly: “Not throwing a tantrum, but also sympathetic. To be honest, I would rather give a bride price to the doll than find an ancestor to worship.”
However, experiencing the AI interactive function of the doll also requires a certain cost. For example, the AI function of Jinsanwanmei Adult Doll requires users to pay a subscription fee of US$100 (S$130), which does not include subsequent recharge and renewal.
Such “money-seeking” may also be a true portrayal of modern people’s love.
