Keshav and his nine fellow masturbation consultants will receive $2,000 each for the qualitative, in-house research project run by Joi AI, which is promoting a daily guided “jerk off with purpose” masturbation tool combining “sound [and] ritual” as part of its professed goal to “solve male loneliness.” Of the 10, six completed the study. The website costs a minimum of $3.99 a month to access, but users are likely to spend far more on the platform, with 10,000 “Joi neuron” coins costing $99.99 and private videos from companions costing 1,000 neurons.
Joi AI surveyed 2,500 adults before launching the study, finding that 75 percent masturbate to reduce stress and anxiety and that 43 percent self-pleasure before “a big event,” like a date, exam, or difficult conversation. The company sought to discover how masturbation affects sleep, stress, craving intensity, focus, and ease of arousal—and how masturbating with AI held up versus other methods.
“You get this boost of dopamine when you ejaculate,” says Julie Levin, head of brand and communications at Joi AI. “We wanted our consultants to track whether their cravings [for vices] are worse or better and how it affects their self-discipline.”
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But Nicole Prause, a neuroscientist studying human sexuality and addiction, says “this is a gross overstatement from the evidence they claim to have.” Prause is not aware of any scientific evidence that masturbation reduces vulnerability to substance abuse, and she was critical of the research methodology.
“Since masturbation can never be placebo—people always know if they masturbated—it is important to use markers that are less subject to bias than self-report,” she says. “They use none. Someone saying ‘I feel focused’ is just that. There are dozens of cognitive tests that could be used to support a self-report. I do not see any.”
However, Prause, who is working on a large laboratory study of male orgasms, says masturbation to orgasm is a potent method of mood management. She adds that the most “dramatic shifts” among her study cohort come from people who report decreased anxiety and increased relaxation after climaxing.
This is a surprisingly well balanced article despite sounding like an advertisement for Joi AI.
I don't think the initial study involving the AI companions has much merit, since it only had ten participants and all the data was self-reported, but I'd be interested to hear the results of the larger study to follow.
The final caution that using AI companions might foster reliance is responsible. I've been following chatbot development for a while since a friend of mine made his own app, and the progress has been astounding. I have the same concerns. They've gone from repetitive LLMs to sophisticated personalities with video and voice, it's not hard to imagine people might start to rely on them rather than foster real life relationships.
Also:
I don't believe for a second that was the most unhinged fetish submitted.
I learned about balloon fetishes at the age of like 12 watching the sex show on Discovery channel. They showed some girls in bikinis sitting on and popping balloons, and a very happy old man.
If it was on cable TV, it is not "the most unhinged"
Thanks for posting the archive link - I always mean to do so, but I get distracted easily and don’t always remember to pop back in lol
I was amused that Joi AI wanted to claim that masturbating with an AI chatbot was producing positive results while ignoring that masturbating alone would also produce those same positive results in most participants. People are already using AI as replacement relationships already to some alarming results. The woman who participated and found diminishing returns from the chatbot had what seems like a more average reaction I think.
I dunno, I’m kind of rambling without a conclusion haha. The topic is interesting and it was a fun little read. Glad someone else read it!
AI chatbots fascinate me, so I'm into it. Appreciate the post.
I don't mind posting archive links either, I do it all the time whenever I hit a paywall or sign-in gate.