In the movie Her we are treated to a vision of a near-future society in which a new operating system (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) demonstrates such a competent degree of consciousness that not only could it (or rather, she) easily pass a Turing test, but the protagonist of the movie (Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with her.

Although this is far from the first visualization of an artificial lifeform (depending on how you define it you could go back to Frankenstein or Greek myth where the gods take human form) the way the movie (directed by Spike Jonze) handles the day-to-day interaction makes a big difference. The OS is not physically present, even in image form (no floating faces etc). Like HAL in 2001 (another obvious precursor) you interact via voice control, speaking in natural sentences. The encounter becomes a conversation with a friend.

A couple of months ago Amazon offered…