Realdoll’s next AI sex robots will remember you, cost $22,000 and ensure you learn about consent

Realdoll’s new president has told SEXTECHGUIDE that the brand is preparing to launch its new generation of ’embodied AI’ sex robots.

Sue Ennis (pictured below, left) took over Realdoll in March 2026 as head of Intima LLC, the Realbotix Corp subsidiary that makes the dolls and is separate from Realbotix LLC, which builds the company’s commercial humanoid robots. She said that new Realdolls are being designed with AI companion avatar syncing as their main focus, and that the physical bots are set to be more expensive than previous Realdolls, with some able to give users verbal sex consent lessons.

The robots will continue to be made in the US, with Ennis saying that an earlier plan to outsource some production to China was not going ahead.

Ennis has quickly become the new public face of Realdoll, appearing on TV and podcasts talking about sex robots and AI. She said that Matt McMullen, who previously helmed the brand, is taking a more behind-the-scenes role. Since early 2026 McMullen has had the role of Chief Creative Officer at Intima LLC.

“There’s a plethora of hetero males who are deciding what gets built and who it gets built for, and how it gets built,” Ennis said, speaking of the sex robot industry. “The [Realbotix] board wanted to bring in a female and more diversity of perspective… intimacy is so diverse.”

As well as the new Realdoll AI launch, Ennis’s inbox includes public image issues and increasingly intense scrutiny on AI chatbot ethics. She’s also preparing to launch new handheld sextech syncing devices.

A new ’embodied AI’ generation

12 Realdoll owners are currently testing the first incarnations of the new generation AI sex robots. Ennis said that when the robots are launched more widely, they are likely to cost between $21,000 and $24,000.

The Realdoll site currently lists forthcoming companion robots with a holding price of $21,999, although the final total will depend on add-ons and customizations.

Like many previous Realdolls, the new ones will essentially be sex dolls with AI robot heads that can talk and move. As Ennis’s recent preview videos show, they can blink, their lips move when they talk, and they can pivot their heads. They don’t currently have cameras in the head, but it’s in development. Everything you’d expect in a high-end sex robot head.

The new robots will be designed so the AI element can cross hardware formats. You’ll be able to talk with the main sex robot head, then again with an avatar version on a Realdoll app. “You can actually build a relationship,” said Ennis, “and she will have memory”.

Ennis acknowledged that many people already have relationships with non-sex robot AI chatbots. She said that they would be able to upload these to their Realdoll hardware, to inject the AI personality into a Realdoll.

An AI system that has data moving across hardware formats raises privacy issues. Ennis said that Realdoll does not store user data on the cloud or read conversations.

“Everything is stored on the user’s local device,” she said. “The only thing that we would be able to read is how many times you had a physical interaction with the AI. But that’s anonymized, encrypted data. We do not read your history. We do not sell your data.” Ennis did not say how the memory would move between devices without a cloud service, when you upgrade your phone, for example.

She added that Realdoll’s first male AI-focused sex robots would be launched as part of the new generation. Ennis said that the sex robot industry has generally acted like “[cis] women and gay men just didn’t care [about sex robots], but they definitely do.”

Too much sex robot time?

Many people (and governments) are concerned about people being emotionally dependent on AI chatbots. There have been lawsuits blaming companion-style chatbots for deaths, and in the US new laws have been introduced to attempt to mitigate these dangers.

When an AI chatbot is operating through a sex robot head with moving eyes and lips, perhaps the risk of becoming too emotionally attached is even greater. Why go out with a real person, when you can have a compliant and chatty robot in your bedroom?

Ennis rejected the idea that Realdoll AI sex robots could create a high risk of dangerous emotional dependence. She said her experience with customers showed her that many sex robot users in fact see the devices as offering ways to approach human intimacy better.

Ennis added that the base model for the AI of the new generation Realdolls had been designed with parameters built around the European Union’s AI Act, which is generally considered to be the world’s first comprehensive, large-scale AI law.

The new sex robots’ AI, she said, will not allow a user to take a conversation in the direction of “non-consensual violence”, or anything to do with minors or bestiality. “There’s three layers of filtering of the conversation,” she added, “then the model will shut down if the user continues to try and push the conversation in that direction.”

To help prevent potentially dangerous emotional dependency on a chatbot, Ennis said that the robots’ AI will have a continuous use time limit of a few hours. The sex robot, and its avatar in the app, will encourage the user to take breaks from chatting.

She added that the robot and its avatar will “send a message of, ‘Hey, I think it’s time maybe you know to go for a walk’ or, ‘Put the app down, you’ve been here for a while’, similar to what TikTok does.”

Intimacy, not just sex

“The media loves to portray sex doll users as perverts,” said Ennis. “Incels in their moms’ basements. Horny old men. Another big reason why I’m here is to destigmatize this.”

Ennis said that in her experience, most Realdoll owners say they’re looking for proper intimacy in their sex robot rather than just a doll to have sex with.

“What we’re hearing is that these lifelike dolls help produce tactile touch,” she said. “That presence, that helps reduce cortisol [and] reduce anxiety… we’re trying to take Realdoll and sex dolls in general out of this pigeonholed category of just being for sex and having an orgasm because you can’t get a partner.”

Realdoll’s investment in its companion AI technology does indeed suggest that its customers are after relationships deeper than the physical. Ennis said that customers have included PTSD sufferers, war veterans, and neurodivergent people who had lost their spouses and “are not ready to move on”.

“Those are my real customers,” she said. “Not incels in their mom’s basement.”

She said: “Based on the emails I’m reading from people [Realdoll customers], the veterans with PTSD, the neurodivergent… they’re trying to find a way back to humans. If we can be a tool and a bridge, I want to design accordingly for that.”

Tackling sex robot consent

The new generation AI Realdolls will have a journey-style function that will see the sex robot and avatar discuss issues such as dating etiquette and consent. The idea is that these interactions will help users become better at human interactions.

“There’s a journey where a person can learn about consent, where this avatar isn’t just going to let them have sex with them,” said Ennis. “They have to get to know her. They have to understand her, and what she wants.”

She added: “Continuous frictionless engagement is not realistic in terms of how any relationship in the real world works. Friction is everywhere: employees, romance, friendships. So, we’ve also built in friction into our avatars.”

Early reaction to this consent talk function among Realdoll testers has been mixed. “Some of our customers have written back and been like, ‘Hey, Alara in particular is a little rude’. We did have to tweak it a bit, because she was getting a little too rude and defiant.”

Do sex robot customers really want their bot to lecture them about consent at all? “I’ll be honest with you: so far, no,” said Ennis. “But to be honest, I don’t care… if you’re just like, ‘Hey Maya, I want to fuck, pull your pants down’, she’s not going to do that.”

And finally: Realdoll parts on the move

Ennis said that she’s working on handheld sextech devices “that are of male anatomy”, to go alongside female anatomy devices in the Realdoll roster.

There’s not much information about these yet, but Ennis said they will have a syncing function and will vibrate. “I get lots of requests for thrusting,” she added.

Ennis added that the new portable sextech devices will be able to sync with the companion’s AI memory.

“The avatar that connects to the actual physical robot has memory,” she said. “Let’s say you are having an interaction with the robot, then you go on vacation and have an interaction with one of our handheld devices that still connects with the app.”

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