The trend of AI models is blowing into the sex toy market

Wen| There is always a reason

At the beginning of 2025, the launch of Deepseek has caused a major technological shock of the times. As it became popular, domestic netizens have also played various new tricks: young people use it late at night to tell fortune, investors use it to stock stocks based on its advice, and singles. Aristocrats regard it as a Cybermoon and find a marriage. Many people even talk about falling in love with it. They (they) input their ideals into the AI model, use speech and AI to give birth, and create a privately customized version of the perfect lover.

Of course, if you set DeepSeek as a cold boyfriend, it can also make you break your defenses instantly.

But falling in love with AI is nothing new. Recently, the implantation of AI into silicone dolls and the creation of new human-computer interactions has once again refreshed the public’s imagination. It is understood that WMdoll, an adult doll manufacturing company, has a MetaBox series of silicone dolls that integrates open source AI models and is selling in full swing in overseas markets.

Food and color are sex. If silicone dolls are upgraded from a single physiological product to an AI partner with emotional interaction capabilities, it will undoubtedly give the adult products industry greater imagination. And this is not a bad thing for the AI hardware market. Against the background of the increasingly prosperous single economy, will the first AI hardware hit that consumers come into contact with be an upgraded version of the doll?

AI dolls reignite the sex toy market

Since Ma Jiajia, the top scorer in the college entrance examination born in the 1990s, stepped into the sex toy market and founded Baofou, this industry mixed with secrecy, shyness, desire and huge profits has had no new story for a long time, which has also made it gradually forgotten in the capital market.

According to industry data compiled by IT Orange, in 2014, there were 13 venture capital incidents in the domestic sex toy industry, equivalent to the total of investment incidents in the same field in the three years of 2011 and 2013; in 2015, this number increased to 24, and the following year There were also as many as 15 incidents. However, after this peak, capital’s enthusiasm for the sex toy track has become cold. Although it was stimulated by the epidemic around 2021 and ushered in a second spring, this enthusiasm has not remained for long, and there will be only 3 financing in the whole year of 2022.

This cannot be attributed to capital. Capital targets the track, bets heavily, and tries to boost and detonate the track. The ultimate goal is naturally to spawn leading brands like Durex, which includes various toys, sexy clothing and underwear. There are many categories of adult sex tracks, and no next Durex has been born yet.

In this context, the technological revolution of AI has given sex toys the intelligent imagination, which instantly stimulated the market and also stimulated the majority of men.

As we all know, traditional adult dolls are limited to simple reactions and lack the expression skills needed to interact with humans. With the breakthroughs of generative AI and large models, such products may have the ability to understand, analyze and respond. Simply put, it can address both physical needs and emotional needs. And boldly imagine that a partner who is informed and tactful, can tolerate all shortcomings, provides unlimited emotional value and will not ask for it, can meet the requirements of most people for their other half?

At least some men are already tempted. They think that the money used to buy a bag for their girlfriend is enough to buy half a robot, but at least the robot will not find me poor.” rdquo;

In 2024, a Tidio survey of more than 1200 respondents in the United States showed that 48% of men and 33% of women were open to robot companions. The market response of the MetaBox series also confirmed its potential. The product launched overseas public beta in December 2024. The first batch of 200 products launched in North America, Japan and Europe were quickly sold out, accounting for 20% of the total order volume during the same period. User activity continues to rise.

In fact, compared with AI companions that test intelligence more, AI silicone dolls or AI sex robots have more potential to explode. Because it meets the needs of users in the single economy, and the importance of physiological needs is far greater than their requirements for intelligence, which determines that products are less subject to technological constraints.

With the smart gimmicks and the temptation of industry profits, this track may usher in long-lost enthusiasm.

Men may not be able to afford AI dolls

Affected by the epidemic, the domestic adult sex industry has experienced a small peak, especially silicone dolls. Data shows that my country’s export volume of adult products in 2020 increased by nearly 50% year-on-year, and the export of adult dolls increased by 100%. Among them, orders from Germany and Italy increased most significantly. Previously, Jingdong’s research report also showed that domestic sales of silicone dolls in 2020 were about 600,000, with an average of 50,000 sold per month, and about 2 million sold globally.

However, in the huge adult products market, physical dolls still belong to a smaller category. One of the core reasons is that price has stopped sales.

For a long time, the prices of physical dolls on the market are generally high, mostly around 6,000 – 8,000 yuan. The market price of silicone simulation dolls is as high as tens of thousands. Some high-end silicone dolls in Japan even reach 40,000 to 50,000 yuan. Relying on manufacturing in China, some domestic manufacturers have lowered the price of physical dolls, but the trend of intelligence can obviously increase their value.

For example, Jin San Wanmei’s MetaBox series of silicone dolls is priced between 1,500 and 2,000 US dollars (approximately 10,880 – 14,507 yuan).

We can refer to the customer unit price of sex toy consumption in my country. According to the “2023 – 2024 China Sex Toy Industry and Consumer Behavior Survey and Analysis Report” conducted by Ai Media Consulting, the unit price of sex toy consumers in China in 2020 will mainly be 100-300 yuan, and in 2023 it will mainly be 300-1000 yuan. Although the unit price of customers has increased significantly, we can see that the consumption range above 1000 yuan has declined.

Of course, the core market of these silicone dolls is in Europe and the United States, which have higher acceptance of adult products, but in fact their consumption of adult products is not high.

Based on some data and information collected across borders on the portraits of adult products consumers in the United States, 50% of respondents (including 54% of men and 45% of women) said their sex toys cost less than $20, and only 3% of respondents said they spent more than $100.

Judging from this consumption situation, AI silicone dolls that can provide emotional needs are very attractive, but the price still hinders consumption enthusiasm, which makes it easy for AI silicone dolls to fall into an embarrassing situation where rich men don’t need them and poor men can’t afford it. Moreover, intelligent silicone dolls sell not only dolls, but also services, which require additional money.

Just like the MetaBox series, if you want to experience AI interactive functions, you need to pay a subscription fee of US$100-US$200. If you suspend your subscription, it will be just an ordinary doll who can’t talk.

When this kind of intelligently modified silicone doll or AI companion is no longer a one-time sale and relies solely on hardware to make money, consumers may actually be more manipulated.“” A company’s user agreement shows that AI partners will continue to learn about users ‘schedules, mood swings and even sexual preferences. This data is not only used to optimize services, but also generates personalized payment points in reverse.“”

Women need interactive adult dolls more?

For a long time, the sense of shame in using adult sex toys has made the development of this industry in my country relatively secretive and low-key. Especially among the female group, many people are ashamed of their sexual life, making them almost speechless in this industry. However, this situation has changed in recent years.

In the “2020 Online Sex Toys Consumption Report” released by CBDdata, nearly 80% of online consumption of sex toys is completed by married people, and the proportion of consumption by married and childbearing women is particularly prominent. In addition, the “2021 China Women’s Health White Paper” released by the First Financial and Economic Business Data Center also shows that in the online sex toy consumer market, the proportion of women’s consumption is increasing day by day, and the growth rate is significantly higher than that of men, currently accounting for nearly 40%.

Moreover, in terms of product categories, since 2021, the development growth rate of female appliances has performed very well in the entire industry.

Therefore, the rise of the concept of self-pleasing has helped female consumers gain more say in this market, and they are becoming the new main force of consumption. However, what I have to admit is that the mismatch between women’s needs and the development of adult products makes product innovation around women’s groups just beginning, making it difficult to quickly meet the growth in demand. Categories like physical dolls are almost by default the product of male demand.

However, the implantation of large models makes doll products more attractive to women, because women tend to have stronger needs for emotion and interaction than men.

This has been verified on the track accompanied by AI. Among the currently active AI social apps, female users are dominant and have begun to appear in some products. For example, Character AI, Replika, and Chai, female users account for more than 50%, and Hoshino’s user base is also mostly female. In addition, in the AI companionship toy market, we can find many products made into furry and cute shapes, which cater to both children and women.

In the field of adult products, a silicone doll that may talk, chat, and comfort people is naturally more popular among women and more attractive to them to pay the bill quickly than a cold silicone doll.

Especially in overseas markets, women are more receptive to sex toys. Compared with China, there is a group of audiences that cannot be ignored for such adult products, namely gay men, lesbians and bisexuals. They spend more on sex products every year than heterosexuals.

It is worth mentioning that the increase in the number of single women in my country will also become a basis for the future development of AI adult dolls or AI robot couples. According to census data, from 2000 to 2020, the proportion of unmarried women aged 30-44 increased from 0.8% to 5.6%, a seven-fold increase. In economically developed regions, the proportion of unmarried people aged 30-34 is higher. For example, in 2020, the proportion of unmarried people aged 30-34 in Beijing was as high as 23.9%.

Women have increasing autonomy in marriage, and their phobia of marriage is increasing day by day compared with their willingness to marry, so they would rather choose to be single. The needs of single women obviously hide more opportunities and will not be limited to a pet economy.

At present, the technical packaging of the capital market around the large model of materials + physiological sensing +AI has become hot. The steep rising curves on the K-chart directly tell the huge benefits. However, whether it is an AI silicone doll or an accompanying robot, after all, the product is king. A product that has not yet been successfully verified is not enough to drive the entire industrial chain. nbsp;