Who among us has thought of boinking their computer's operating system? I know, none of us, but Joaquin Phoenix thinks about it in 2013's Her. It's not really a movie about the potential of A.I. romance so much as it is a supernatural romance in sci-fi clothing. But it's a relaxing and kind of sweet film.
It's included on a new playlist on The Criterion Channel for movies about A.I. but those looking to this film to tackle some of the emerging issues surrounding the topic will be disappointed.
We find ourselves in an unspecified point in the future where humanity has kind of met the computers halfway--director Spike Jonze presents a sterile city with sterile interiors that look like department store displays.
Everyone wears solid colours; button down collared shirts with with pale trousers and cardigans. The operating system seamlessly blends into every aspect of Theodore's (Phoenix) life pleasantly, in the way Apple commercials assure us is normal and pleasant.
The film avoids addressing any potential issues in the fact that Theodore bought and owns the OS he eventually falls in love with, a girlfriend who also does the work of a personal assistant. The A.I., called Samantha, is voiced by Scarlett Johansson and the movie really makes you realise, as beautiful as Johansson is, her voice on its own is also incredibly sexy. So it's not hard for me to believe their "phone sex" scene.
Like in ghost romance movies, Samantha goes through a stage of wanting a physical body to dwell with the living and then goes through a stage of gradually moving on to a higher plane. In this case, it's implied A.I.s move so far beyond physical and human reality that they disappear into some superior realm we can't even imagine. So essentially heaven.
The articles I've read about A.I. and ChatGPT sessions I've seen so far haven't impressed me that they have anything like true sentience as we know it. But it's hard for screenwriters to imagine truly non-human intelligence--it's certainly hard for me. I do believe a sort of intensely complex intelligence will emerge that will become a danger to humanity. But it's not going to be something we can empathise with or that will be capable of empathising with us. As much as we might want Samantha or Data or Hatsune Miku, I think we're more likely to get HAL, Skynet, and/or Cybermen.
Her is available on The Criterion Channel.
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