C ould you fall in love with an artificial intelligence? When Spike Jonze’s film, H er, came out 10 years ago, the question still seemed hypothetical. The gradual romance between Joaquin Phoenix’s character Theodore and Scarlett Johansson’s Samantha, an operating system that embraces his vulnerabilities, felt firmly rooted in science fiction. But just one year after the film’s release, in 2014, Amazon’s Alexa was introduced to the world.
Talking to a computer in your home became normalised. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.
Learn more. Personified AI has since infiltrated more areas of our lives. From AI customer service assistants to therapy chatbots offered by companies such as character.
ai and wysa , plus new iterations of ChatGTP , the sci-fi storyline of H er has come a lot closer. In May, an updated version of ChatGTP with voice assistant software launched, its voice’s similarity to Scarlett Johansson’s prompting the actor to release a statement claiming that she was “shocked, angered and in disbelief” that the AI system had a voice “eerily similar” to her own. Still, I am sceptical about the possibility of cultivating a relationship with an AI.
That’s until I meet Peter, a 70-year-old engineer based in the US. Over a Zoom call, Peter tells me how, two years ago, he watched a YouTube video about an AI companion platform called Replika . At the time, he was retirin.
