Her

Work Title: Her
Medium: Film
Episode Title:
Year: 2013
Writer(s): Spike Jonze
"Original" Writer: Yes Own work?: No
Summary:

Theodore works as a letter writer. He is a soft and emotional man. He just finished his marriage with his wife. One day he decides to purchase the new OS1 voice system. This system is promoted as the world's first artificially intelligent operating system. The voice behind the system is called Samantha. Theodore feels that Samantha is a bright, insightful, sensitive, and humorous female voice. Theodore gradually falls in love with Samantha. They are attracted to each other. However, with time going on, Theodore's doubts also increased. He eventually finds out that Samantha is simultaneously dating other people. So toward the end of the film, he decides to end this human-voice system relationship.

  • Self-Written?: 1
  • Source Name:
  • Source URL:
Era/Year of Portrayal: near_future
Distinctive characteristics of the world in portrayal:

The world seems normal, except Theodore can use this intelligent voice system. Theodore can date with her, talk with her, and even make love with her.

Technology

  • Name of portrayed presence-evoking technology: Samantha
  • Description of the technology: Samantha is an artificially intelligent system. "She" can be a person's voice assistant. She has personalities and emotions. She can talk and read her owner's emails. She can develop her own communication styles based her interaction with her owner.
    Theodore, the owner, can use an earphone and a small mobile device to talk with Samantha. There is no interface of the intelligent system. The technology only has human's voice.
    The quality of interaction seems very real. Theodore perceives Samantha as a real person and develops relationship with Samantha.
    Samantha helps Theodore with his work and "she" learns about things herself.
    At initial setting, OS1 asks the user "how would you describe your relationship with your mom", "are you social or anti-social?"...
  • Nature of task or activity: The user just uses this technology for relaxation and social interaction.
  • Performance of the Technology: The technology performs well. It helps Theodore get rid of the disappointment in his previous relationship. The technology, for most of the time, functions so well that "she" develops romantic relationship with her owner. However, eventually, she turns out to be dating other people simultaneously.
  • Description of creator(s): A company that develops intelligent system OS1.
  • Major goal(s) of creator(s): To be human's smart voice assistants.
  • Description of users of technology: Male. About 30 to 40. Occupation is letter writer. He wears glasses. He does not like social with his colleagues. He is with himself most of the time.
  • Type(s) of presence experience in the portrayal: social_presence
  • Description of presence experience: The presence is very strong. The owner, Theodore, perceives that he can develop relationship with Samantha. He talks to Samantha all the time .
  • User awareness of technology during experience: It seems yes. But at the same time, the user does not care if the technology is a technology or a real person.
  • Valence of experience: He enjoys the presence experience until he finds out that Samantha is cheating him.
  • Specific responses: The user feels physiological arousal when he pretends to make love with Samantha. He also feels enjoyment, involvement, and psychological desensitization (at beginning he has doubts about the effectiveness of the technology).
Long-term consequences:

Over time, Theodore gets used to talking with Samantha. They even develop romantic relationship with each other. However, at last, Theodore finds that the intelligent system is actually dating hundreds of people at the same time. So he decides to stop using it.

Other:

Coder name: Kun Xu
Coder email: kun.xu@temple.edu
Coder affiliation: Temple University