Ethical dilemmas in AI, a new treatment for STIs and a world without men

👋HEY ALL!

On my journey into sextech news this week I was reading about the Y chromosome disappearing. While humans could currently not survive without men, there isn’t need to panic yet… it’s millions of years away…but I loved learning about other all-female species, such as the New Mexico whiptail!

🦎Bonus read "How the New Mexico whiptail became a gay icon".

Not exactly sextech, but a nice diversion.

Onto the tech side, not a week goes by without more leaps in AI. If you’re after a great read on the ethical dilemmas in AI and sextech, check out the one featured by Stu Nugent, as well as a further dig into the implications of AI porn and synthetic sexuality with the supremely talented Leo Herrera for MIT (who also just released a book on queer cruising ettiquette, Analog Cruising, a step-by-step guide to sex outside our phones).

Read on for:

🔥 this week in sextech

💼 job openings

🎪 community events

💡 Founder of the Week

— Bryony

🔥 THIS WEEK IN SEXTECH

• 🦎 A world without men?

• 💊 Doxy PEP is the new “morning after” treatment for sexual health

• 🤖 There are no safety railings in sextech. None.

🦎 A world without men?

If the human Y chromosome disappears, will men disappear?

If they do, that’ll be the end of the human race.

We can’t become a female-only species (as have some lizards, such as the New Mexico whiptail 🦎) because there are at least 30 “imprinted” genes that are active only if they come through the sperm. So we can’t reproduce without men.

So does that mean humans will become extinct in 4.5 million years?

💊 A new “morning after” treatment for sexual health

Doxy PEP is a medication used to treat bacterial STIs after exposure.

Doxy PEP uses doxycycline, a common antibiotic used for treating acne, respiratory infections and often prescribed to treat diagnosed cases of  syphilis and chlamydia.

🤖 AI deep dive...

🤖 There are no safety railings in sextech. None.

As Stu Nugent writes. AI depends on huge volumes of real-world and digital data to extrapolate its decisions. That data has to come from somewhere, and to most accurately reflect human intelligence, it comes from you.

If we were developing artificially intelligent egg poachers or something, perhaps that might not be an issue. There isn’t anything ethically problematic about that. But when we’re dealing with issues as intrinsically and inherently personal as sex, ethical issues carry more weight.

🤖 AI and synthetic sexuality

The rise of AI-generated porn may be a symptom of a new synthetic sexuality, not the cause. In the near future, we may find this porn arousing because of its artificiality, not in spite of it.

💼HOT JOBS

🇺🇸 Freelance Content Creator, High Priestess [Apply]

🇺🇸 Senior Corporate Finance Manager, Grindr [$173K-$204K]

🇺🇸 Director of Product Design, Growth, and Revenue, Tinder [$220K-$245K]

🇺🇸 Social + UGC Content Coordinator, Happy V[Apply]

🇬🇧 Content Designer - Web, Flo Health Inc. [Apply]

🇮🇪 Global Escalations Specialist, Tinder [Apply]

🎪EVENTS

🇩🇪 September 6 Germany, Sex Tech Mixer @ The Startup Lawyers, SexTech Nordics xounds THOMAS RAe - Startup-Lawyers.de [RSVP]

💻 September 14-15 Online, Sexuality Business Summit, Sexual Health Alliance [RSVP]

🇺🇸 September 29, NYC, Safe Sex Expo, SPFPP [RSVP]

🇺🇸 October 1-6 Colorado, Annual Sexological Conference, Sexual Health Alliance [RSVP]

🇦🇺 October 14-20, Love, Sex and Intimacy in the age of AI, SXSW Sydney - talk [Tickets] (yep, I'm speaking at this! 🎉)

🇫🇷 October 18-19, France, Sextech for Good Conference [Tickets]

🇦🇺 October 19-20, Australia and Online, Sexology in Practice Symposium 2024, Society of Australian Sexologists [RSVP]

💡 Founder of the Week: Phil Steinweber, Intimate Wellness Founder at Beducated

We are making progress on our Sextech Industry Hub, with our first 100 members being welcomed in to our private Whatsapp and Slack communities while we build out their public profiles in the directory... [you can join the waitlist here]

Each week, I will highlight one of #The100 here so you can learn more about what these fascinating individuals are building and how it contributes to the wider foundations of our industry.

This week's founder is Phil Steinweber, the intimate wellness founder of Beducated, a platform bringing pleasure-based sex education right to the customers' bedroom.

Connect with Phil Steinweber on LinkedIn here.

That's a wrap for this week.

— Bryony

ps. Want to be part of building something new with me?

The Sextech Industry Hub is a mega people and resources directory to manage (and find new) connections, join events, browse jobs and centralise news from the sextech and sexual wellness industry globally.

Sound like you? Join the waitlist before September to get a special surprise in your inbox.