Sex Work Stands to Gain in an AI-filled Future Economy

The world is bracing for an AI revolution. Starting from the shock of ChatGPT's dexterity when it first emerged this month last year, both tech experts and the general public are now envisioning a world in which chatbots like it and its myriad competitors go from mere helpers to human work, to become central to daily operations of the global economy. With skills that range from crafting documents and conducting online research to brainstorming new ideas and putting together computer codes, it no longer seems unfathomable that chatbots replace millions of human workers around the world.

Not surprising, then, that my humans are warning of the social consequences of more powerful AI that threaten jobs and push up unemployment. Many are already contemplating what exactly are the jobs most vulnerable to automation through AI, and proposing whether governments and private actors are ready with programs in place to retrain workers for other roles that AI supposedly cannot replace humans. Those who require direct human communication in the service industry, in their minds, can take in those who were retrenched from their clerical white-collar functions.

But even this basic analysis starts to sound iffy as chatbots advance into the world of human emotions. Already there is research underway for AI to recognize visual and verbal cues that differentiate human emotions, and provide emotionally considerate answers suitable for humans carrying different emotions. As interpretations of human emotions become more accurate, AI can become capable of those supposedly AI-proof roles requiring human-to-human communication. Nurses, therapists, call center operators, and consultants may all find themselves in competition with cheaper AI-based solutions. 

The continuing advancement of AI into human emotions begs the question of what exactly human jobs are truly safe from AI. Humans still crave human-like interactions, not because the humans are more efficient or accurate in their answers than AI, but because, more often than not, the very physical presence of another human being can help alleviate loneliness in ways that even AI with perfect verbal response to every human emotion cannot be a viable substitute. Brilliant as many AI chatbots may be until they can physically mimic what humans look and feel like, humans cannot see them as "real" companions.

That technological lag, of advanced software vs un-humanlike hardware, makes those whose job it is to be companions to other human beings likely the most securely employed in an AI-filled world. Workers who trade in the carnal desire of human flesh should be safe to assume that no amount of advancement in AI can replicate the sexually stimulating touch that they provide to clients. Until engineering can perfectly replace the human body with factory-manufactured cyborgs, loaded with AI and feeling exactly like humans do, prostitutes will continue to see their work flourish.

It is quite ironic to think that a line of work that is so legally precarious can be so secure from a technological revolution. Sex work remains illegal or in the legal grey zone in many countries around the world, with the workers themselves constantly fearing prosecution by law enforcement, violence from clients and pimps, as well as economic insecurity associated with inconsistent income. Should AI lead to mass unemployment in other fields, sex workers may see further precariousness, with few, poorer clients and even increased competition from new entrants into sex work who lost their previous jobs to AI.

Unfortunately, government and private sector reaction to the spread of AI is unlikely to change the plight of both current and future sex workers. Retraining for workers who lose their jobs to AI will unlikely involve anything related to sex work. And compensation to humans for the extensive use of robots is unlikely to be extended to prostitutes, who are not deemed vulnerable to AI in the first place. Even as sex workers get to keep their jobs even as the use of AI spreads, their hard work would not receive any more recognition than the pittance they see today.

This is a mistake. As the future economy involves more human-AI collaboration, there is an increasing need for more "pure" human-to-human interactions that the workplace can no longer provide. It is not inconceivable that devoid of workplace debauchery, many would seek something beyond platonic relationships with their family members and non-work acquaintances. This is particularly true in the aging, increasingly childless societies of the rich world. The social contribution of sex workers in providing that human touch, however briefly, should be celebrated even more than it is today.