Would a robot uterus lead directly to a real “dune”?

In a development that has completely demolished the border between robotics and reproductive sciences, Chinese technology Kaiwa made the headlines this week for declaring that it had introduced humanoid robots equipped with advanced artificial ulpin systems. The story has proven to be false, but the ethical considerations that surround it are always in substance.

What could go wrong with this line of experimentation?

Well, those of you who are Dune Fans know exactly where it could theoretically go: a future full of robots which take control of humanity and must be defeated and then prohibited in order to maintain civilization.

But we have to go back a little before jumping to the right.

Let’s take a closer look at what Kaiwa said it had done so far. He said he had an “advanced stadium” prototype that combines artificial intelligence with bio-engineering and imitates the hormonal and physical processes of pregnancy. The robots were excited as having biosynthetic organs which, according to the company, are capable of simulating gestation in a controlled environment, in particular the food of an embryo or a fetus via liquid nutrients.

Kaiwa said that his robots with the uterus would finally sell about $ 14,000, as Slashgear reports, which, if it is true, would be a major discount of $ 100,000 to $ 200,000 that the hiring of a substitute currently costs in the United States

He made his debut on the false news around the opening of the Beijing World Robot Exo.

Kaiwa did not say if he was testing on organic materials or with human eggs, sperm or embryos. It also did not explain how a real baby would have been born.

What is the drawback of a work robot uterus?

Well, the first and most obvious is that a robotic uterus could easily damage or terminate a fetus if it does not work properly. Babies are not hydroponic, after all, and depend on a complex mixture of nutrients and very complicated placenta signals, which is really the workhorse of pregnancy (apart from the pregnant person carrying the fetus).

Creating an AI placenta would be much more a Saint Grail in science than a robotic belly, because it grows, changes and develops as the fetus develops and is much more delicate and difficult to reproduce.

More worrying, there have been very little report on an ethical verification of how to test this new technology or progression. There is a serious ethical debate on the future of human reproduction and how a robotic component would affect the relations and the property of embryos or children designed or delivered in this way, especially in countries like the United States, in which certain states recognize embryos as goods.

How or why could a robotic belly be a good or a bad idea?

The pros? If it is true and ethical, a synthetic uterus could potentially open new avenues for research on infertility and reproductive assistance. It could provide a substitution maternity at a reduced cost of approximately $ 14,000 (the cost of the robot) for people who cannot have children, compared to a maternity costs of human substitution of around $ 100,000 to $ 200,000 in the United States

Disadvantages? The patchwork of laws applying to reproduction technology is a changing scheme according to the country, the region, the guiding bodies (such as the European Union), cultural roles, religious rules and the rights of parenting and substitutes.

Which would have each part of the process of creating a human fetus in a robot should be studied exhaustively and debated, and it would most likely be of most of the definitions of bioethical standards. Who then oversees this process and applies its rules in the event of offenses is a completely different ball of legal and ethical wax.

The perspective that robots are artificially intelligent raise another important question. Super sophisticated robots can possibly be granted the status of personality, which means that they would be protected by the same laws as human beings. And if these robots finally feel feeling and experiencing emotions in a manner similar to man, this would introduce another layer of ethical and legal complexity.

An artificial uterus could also help human babies survive extreme prematurity and prevent serious complications such as brain damage, pulmonary damage or blindness. Indeed, the progress of neonatal care can advance this technology, regardless of the manifest attempt to create a robotic uterus.

Conversely, criticisms are concerned about the use or potential dehumanization of the gestation process, noting that artificial uterus could lead to the creation of “human entities” without complete biological rights or moral considerations.

“Pregnancy is an extremely complex process, each step being extremely delicate and critical,” a obstetrician at the University of Wisconsin – Madison told Newsweek Yi Fuxian.

He added that synthetic gestation has caused mutton and that “many health risks emerge at different ages, not to mention mental health problems”.

He can possibly be completely money

Recent reports have revealed that China and the South Korea technological sectors closely monitor the pregnancy robot saga.

South Korea already has robots like 10% of its workforce. In January 2024, its Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy unveiled the fourth basic plan of the intelligent robot, which will plow $ 2.24 billion in public and private investment by 2030 to advance automation in most business sectors.

Countries having a drop in birth rate such as Japan and South Korea can also be major markets for a synthetic uterus.

South Korea has declared its lack of babies a national emergency and has tried to attract people to become parents with a new ministry focused on the supply of housing, immigration and other demographic markers that can prevent people from having children or more.

The county has already invested more than $ 200 billion in fertility programs in the past 18 years, but so far, the birth rate has remained low. Maybe having a pregnancy robot subsidized by the government could change that.