BERKELEY, Calif. — Researchers at UC Berkeley announced they had built the first sex robot with the capacity to feel shame about what just happened, confirmed sources who didn’t know whether they wanted to sleep with it or console it.

“We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved here. It’s a real breakthrough in the humiliation-based robotics industry,” said project director Alan Morrow during a live demonstration of the prototype. “For years, sex robots have been able to simulate the pleasure, intimacy, and responsiveness of an encounter, but now the android can struggle to process the profound sense of mortification and regret that accompanies every sexual experience. It’s so life-like that it might even start crying after intercourse.”

Early beta testers reported that the breakthrough creates a comfortingly unsettling experience that feels strikingly authentic.

“It’s honestly kind of amazing just how bad they seem to feel, and how bad that makes you end up feeling,” said beta tester Emily Hill. “The robot will suddenly start avoiding eye contact, then begin haphazardly making the bed while I’m still in it, joke that I’m the one being weird, then finally apologize for being weird themselves, and then randomly ask if we should go out to eat or something even though we just ate. Sometimes they’ll just sit there in silence, staring at the end of the bed, like they’re waiting for me to leave. It’s incredibly weird and authentic. If I didn’t know any better I’d say it was the real thing.”

Experts in artificial intelligence ethics say the development could represent a major step forward in recreating the emotional complexity required for true artificial general intelligence.“If we want machines to fully replicate the human experience, they can’t simply perform human behavior,” explained AI ethicist Dr. Priya Shah. “They also need to feel the deep, immediate shame about how truly disgusting their sexual proclivities are, and spend the ensuing days incessantly questioning how they are choosing to live their life.”

At press time, researchers confirmed they are close to ensuring that during sex the robot’s inner monologue consists of the core ruminations, including that their partner is thinking of someone else, that their partner wishes it were already over, and that they are unlovable and destined to die alone — right before they cum.