【Yoshihiro Tanbara Archives】

Love is Yoshihiro Tanbara Archivesa mystery.

But for a growing number of people, it's a mystery based not in the vagaries of human emotion but rather in the ones and zeros of proprietary software.

SEE ALSO: Your Tinder Crush Might Be a Spambot

According to an April 5 industry trend report focusing on voice-activated systems like Google Home and Amazon Echo, users are getting more than unsolicited Beauty and the Beastads out of their digital assistants.

Think love. Think sex.

That's right, people these days are intimately connecting to the Alexas of the world — or at least fantasizing about doing so, anyway.

"Over a third (37%) of regular voice technology users say that they love their voice assistant so much that they wish it were a real person," reads the report. "Even more astonishing is that more than a quarter of regular voice technology users say they have had a sexual fantasy about their voice assistant."

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Astonishing indeed.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

What's slightly less astonishing is that according to the report, issued by J. Walter Thompson Innovation Group and Mindshare, "voice users are significantly more likely to be young, male and affluent."

In a world of internet-connected vibrators, it likely won't be long before companies move to capitalize on this latest trend. After all, it's an incredible marketing opportunity — all it takes is a little tweak of the software and a customer's one true love can plead with him to renew his Amazon Prime membership.

"For brands, the opportunity will be navigating this ever-closer relationship as voice assistants become increasingly powerful gatekeepers to the consumer."

"Ever closer" being the operative phrase.

And sure, besides the fact that loving the peppy embodiment of a global corporation is totally messed up, there doesn't seem to be any harm in fantasizing about your Google Assistant.

Just maybe don't try and bring it home to meet the folks?

---

Featured Video For You

---

#TBT: A Tamagotchi was the only pet you were actually allowed to have in the '90s

---

Topics Alexa Amazon Google Google Home

• Science
• Games
• Deals
• Social Good
• Digital Culture
• Tech
• Life
• Entertainment

• Max Boot’s Vietnam
• Castes of Mind
• Arts and Statecraft
• Working From Home Effectively: Dos and Don'ts
• Antifascism and the Left’s Fear of Power
• What Does a Fact Look Like?
• Checkmate
• Omerta in France
• The Speaker and the Ironworker
• The Fruit of Power

• Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+: New smartphone photos leaked
• Grubhub launches amazing map of women
• Single? Just make a wine box boyfriend like this guy
• I bet you can't guess where the Huawei MateBook X Pro hides its camera
• People are leaving out hats and gloves to help the homeless stay warm
• Hands on with the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+
• Asus ZenFone 5 will trick people into believing you have an iPhone X
• 50 Shades of No: A new t
• 'Beast from the East' to plunge Europe into historic deep freeze
• Download this: 'Alto's Odyssey' is the sequel we've been waiting for

• The Miseducation of <i>Lady Bird</i>
• Is it Obscene?
• Is it Obscene?
• You Are Not Familiar with My Voice
• Joe Ricketts, Media Destroyer
• Sex and the City
• Mass Hipgnosis
• José Muñoz, Then and There
• The Never-ending Story
• Chaos and Carnage

• Against the Wind
• The Life and Death of the Dream Job
• Astronomers saw a long, bright space blast, but it wasn't a supernova
• Plague Fatigue
• Putting People First in Pennsylvania
• In This World You Have to Sell Something I Carley Gomez
• Free Malala
• The Exorcist’s Apprentice
• Of Damages and Dog Whistles
• The Exorcist’s Apprentice