Virtual Assistants (VAs) already exist in a myriad of forms, from Apple’s Siri, Google Now and Microsoft’s Cortana. VAs will influence our every interaction: whilst some are voice activated, others learn from our behaviour, and this will have profound impacts on the ways we behave, the interactions we engage in, such as help seeking, health and welfare management, and the types of services and products we consume. Dr Tracy Harwood’s talk will present a vision of a VA-enabled near future and an overview of likely changes to consumer behavior.