And 49% of US adults expect that, within the next 50 years, having sex with robots will be common practice

Anthropomorphic, hyper-sexualized robots are no longer just the stuff of science-fiction fantasies. In fact, mechanical lovers are becoming increasingly realistic and technologically advanced, so much so that Dr. Ian Pearson, a futurist known for his 85% accuracy record, guesses that, by 2050, sex with robots will be more common than human love-making.

According to new data from YouGov Omnibus, 49% of Americans agree with Dr. Pearson that having sex with robots will become common practice sometime within the next 50 years. However, not everyone is prepared for this shift. For example, just 9% of women would consider getting frisky with a robot. However, men are much more open to the idea – one in four men (24%) would at least think about taking an automaton lover.

For Americans who would potentially have sex with a robot, the appearance of the machine is crucial. 52% of those open to the idea of robotic intimacy agree that it is important for the bot to resemble a human. On the other hand, respondents were not convinced that everything about the sexual acts had to follow normal human conventions of intimate relations.

For instance, most Americans weren’t convinced that robotic sex should even be classified as traditional sex. Only 14% of US adults would label having sex with a robot as intercourse, while one in three (33%) would consider it more akin to masturbation. And 27% of respondents didn’t feel either category did the act justice.

Similarly, Americans were divided over whether having sex with a robot while in a relationship should be considered cheating – 32% felt it should, while 33% said it should not. Answers weren’t quite so evenly matched between men and women, though. While, 36% of women would consider it cheating, 29% wouldn’t. For men, these numbers flip-flop – 29% would consider a robotic affair cheating, but 37% would not.

Despite recent articles expressing the possibility that sex robots could be easily infiltrated by hackers and programmed for more violent means like murder or assault, 42% of US adults feel that getting it on with a robot would ultimately be safer than hooking up with a human stranger.

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