On April 30, 2026, Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel gave a talk on “Physical AI and the Future of Intimacy” at the SAGA Conference in Montreal. From the abstract: “The presentation begins with the Tamagotchi, the iconic digital pet that demonstrated how simple interactive systems can evoke emotional attachment. It then turns to social robots, wearable social robots, and AI-enhanced sex toys, love dolls, and sex robots. Today, large language models (LLMs) and multimodal language models (MLLMs) enable dialogue, perception, and evaluation in these systems. Such capabilities may also benefit people with disabilities, including blind users, by facilitating communication and interaction. At the same time, the physical dimension remains crucial. Embodied systems create presence and proximity: they can be touched, held, and stroked, and experienced through movement, vibration, or sound. The talk argues that future intimate technologies will emerge from the convergence of generative intelligence and physical embodiment, combining conversational AI with the sensory experience of a physically present companion.” On May 19, 2026, the photos from the event, taken by Maison Toki, an independent art agency in Montreal, were made available (Photo: Maison Toki).
BY OLIVER BENDEL
