In a development that completely demolished the line between robotics and reproductive science, China’s Kaiwa Technology made headlines this week for saying it had introduced humanoid robots equipped with advanced artificial womb systems. The story turned out to be fake, but the ethical considerations around it are still in substantial.
What could possibly go wrong with this line of experimentation?
Well, those of you who are Dune fans know exactly where this could theoretically go: a future filled with robots that take over humanity and have to be defeated and then outlawed in order to keep civilization going.
But we should back up a little before we jump right to that.
Let’s first look a little closer at what Kaiwa said it had done thus far. It claimed it had a “late stage” prototype that combines artificial intelligence with bioengineering and mimics the hormonal and physical processes of pregnancy. The robots were hyped as having have biosynthetic organs that the company claims are capable of simulating gestation in a controlled environment, including feeding an embryo or fetus via liquid nutrients.
Kaiwa claimed its womb-endowed robots will eventually retail for about $14,000, as SlashGear reports, which, if true, would be a major discount from the $100,000 to $200,000 that hiring a surrogate currently costs in the U.S.
It debuted that fake news right around the opening of the Beijing World Robot Expo.
Kaiwa did not say whether it was running tests on biological material or with human eggs, sperm, or embryos. It also did not explain how an actual baby would be born.
What is the downside to a working robot womb?
Well, the first and most obvious thing is that a robotic uterus could easily damage or terminate a fetus if it does not work correctly. Babies are not hydroponic, after all, and depend on a complex mixture of nutrients and signals from the highly complicated placenta, which is really the workhorse of pregnancy (aside from the pregnant person carrying the fetus).
Creating an AI placenta would be much more of a Holy Grail in science than a robotic womb, because it grows, changes, and expands as the fetus develops and is far more delicate and difficult to replicate.
More worrying, there have been very few reports of any ethical vetting of how to test this new technology or how advanced it is. There is serious ethical debate over the future of human reproduction and how a robotic component would affect the relationships and ownership of embryos or children conceived or delivered that way, particularly in countries like the U.S., in which some states recognize embryos as property.
How or why could a robotic womb be a good or bad idea?
The pros? If true and ethically vetted, a synthetic womb could potentially open new avenues for infertility research and reproductive assistance. It could provide surrogacy at a much reduced cost of around $14,000 (the cost of the robot) for people who can’t have a child, compared to a human surrogacy fee of about $100,000 to $200,000 in the U.S.
The cons? The patchwork of laws applying to reproductive tech is a changing pattern depending on the country, the region, the governing bodies (like the European Union), cultural roles, religious rules, and the rights of parenthood and surrogates.
Who would own each part of the process of creating a human fetus in a robot would have to be exhaustively studied and debated, and it would very likely fall short of most definitions of bioethical standards. Who then oversees that process and enforces its rules should there be infractions is a whole other ball of legal and ethical wax.
The prospect of robots being artificially intelligent raises another important issue. Super-sophisticated robots may eventually be granted personhood status, meaning they’d be protected under the same laws as human beings. And should these robots eventually feel and experience emotions in a manner similar to humans, that would introduce yet another layer of ethical and legal complexity.
An artificial womb could also help human babies survive extreme prematurity and prevent serious complications like brain injuries, lung damage, or blindness. Indeed, advances in neonatal care may drive this technology forward, regardless of any overt attempt to create a robotic uterus.
Conversely, critics worry about the potential misuse or dehumanization of the gestation process, noting that artificial wombs could lead to creating “human-like entities” without full biological rights or moral considerations.
“Pregnancy is an extremely complex process, with each step being extremely delicate and critical,” Yi Fuxian, an obstetrician at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, told Newsweek.
He added that synthetic gestation has caused problems in sheep, and that “many health risks emerge at different ages, not to mention mental health issues.”
It may eventually just all be about the money
Recent reporting has found that China and South Korea’s tech sectors are watching the pregnancy robot saga closely.
South Korea already has robots as 10% of its workforce. In January 2024, its Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy unveiled the Fourth Intelligent Robot Basic Plan, which will plow $2.24 billion in public and private investments by 2030 to advance automation across most business sectors.
Countries with declining birth rates like Japan and South Korea may also be major marketplaces for a synthetic uterus.
South Korea has declared its lack of babies a national emergency and has been attempting to lure people into becoming parents with a new ministry focused on providing housing, immigration, and other demographic markers that may be keeping people from having any or more children.
The county has already invested more than $200 billion in fertility programs over the last 18 years, but thus far the birth rate has stayed low. Maybe having a government-subsidized pregnancy robot could change that.
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