Culture news This excellent sci-fi film with Joaquin Phoenix celebrates its 10th anniversary, and he was right about AI… and about us
During his career, Spike Jonze has not directed many feature films. Countable on the fingers of one hand, they still managed to leave traces. This is the case of his latest film (excluding documentary) released in France in 2014, telling the story of a sensitive character, played by Joaquin Phoenix, who falls in love… with an artificial intelligence.
Summary
- Crossroads
- Love at the cell beach
- And now ?
- Better to be alone than accompanied by an AI
Crossroads
From Back to the Future 2 to Blade Runner, many films from the 1980s have depicted the 2010s with flying cars and androids. Despite great progress in aeronautics and robotics, we have not achieved such technological advances. Even if the Aeroht eVTOL Flying Car would have shown the end of its body at CES 2024, or the Optimus Gen 2 would make good progress in Tesla’s laboratories, the hyper-fast flying cars and the almost human androids of the cinema are still in the realm of science fiction. The same goes for many other technologies that have made screenwriters from all walks of life dream, such as teleportation, the invisibility suit, the shrink ray, even artificial/virtual paradise.
However, other advances that were once reserved for the realm of the imagination have become much more concrete. We are obviously thinking of bionic limbs, holograms, exoskeletons and even virtual reality. So much so that at one point, it is difficult to know if it was the writers/directors who were right or if it was the engineers/technicians who were inspired by the works that made them dream to launch into futuristic projects. The answer surely lies at a crossroads. In any case, there is a film, released on March 14, 2014 in France, which was right about our relationship with artificial intelligence: HER. Certainly, Apple’s voice assistant, Siri, was there as early as 2011, but Spike Jonze, here director and screenwriter, understood that AI would become more than just an everyday tool.
Love at the cell beach
HER focuses on Theodore Twombly’s mustachioed nerd, played on screen by Joaquin Phoenix, who, after a painful romantic breakup, becomes locked into depression. A person whose job is to write letters cannot sign his divorce papers. His life becomes a big blank page as a monotonous routine sets in. Things begin to change when Theodore obtains the new OS1 operating system, equipped with next-generation artificial intelligence capable of learning in a fraction of a second and adapting to any situation. After a little calibration, “Samantha”, an AI communicating with the warm voice of Scarlett Johansson, enters the apartment of the dejected nerd. Then in his pocket, taking possession of his smartphone, and finally, his heart. The more time he spends with it, the more the man falls in love with the machine.
With HER, Spike Jonze signs a multifaceted work, at once SF romance, philosophical fable and anticipation film. Taking place in the near future without a date being specified, the story focuses on an impossible love story, one that usually makes one smile, as in A fiancée not like the others (2007, from Craig Gillespie) where a Ryan Gosling – also mustachioed – succumbs to the charms of an inflatable doll. Except that under its veneer of light romantic comedy, accentuated by an image in pastel colors, HER delivers a real reflection on our relationship with technology. And more particularly on one particular point: AI dehumanizes us the more we let it enter our lives. And yet we continue to let it become important everywhere, all the time.
And now ?
Formerly described as an anticipation film, although smartphones were already largely part of our daily lives in 2014, HER understood that voice assistants would evolve into life partners, and that their ability to learn, to hear, to read, to respond, would also serve to fill the loneliness of men. In 2024, the Rabbit R1, a small box powered by AI to take anywhere, promises to respond to complex requests that current assistants (Alexa, Google Home, Siri) are incapable of managing by cross-referencing application data. The AI Pin, for its part, is a small device with which we should be able to communicate easily so that it answers all our questions, thanks to its integrated camera. He would thus be able to identify a monument, a model of car, or the price of a video game that we have in front of us. Flirting is not yet a subject for these boxes, but it won’t be long : AI is already used to alleviate loneliness.
Recently, a new step was taken in the development of “AI girlfriends”. Amouranth, the famous streamer, has joined forces with artificial intelligence specialists to offer AI Amouranth, a “assistant“speaking allowing discussion”Just as in real life” with the young woman. All types of discussion are permitted, without the risk of being banned or ending up in prison, while good students can receive photos or video clips from the influencer. She revealed in January 2024 that in less than 24 hours, this clone allowed her to generate more than $34,000 thanks to four monthly subscription plans ranging from “Friend Plan” at 5.99 dollars at “Boyfriend Plan” at $199.99. According to Capital“artificial intelligence could ultimately reshuffle the cards in the world of eroticism and pornography”. This is also, in a certain way, one of the points addressed in HER.
Better to be alone than accompanied by an AI
For his part, Character.ai offers the possibility of communicating with AI inspired by real and virtual personalities, ranging from Elon Musk to Raiden Shogun from Genshin Impact. According to The echoes, this generative AI would be particularly used by the youngest, and would make it possible to overcome the isolation of the latter. AI to combat loneliness, whether emotional or not, is an avenue to consider for the future, according to Professor Murali Doraiswamy. In an article published by herehe specifies that with “appropriate ethical guidelines”, robots could help “to create a healthier society”.
The insolent success of the 100% virtual influencer Aritana Lopez, the fruit of the work of a Spanish agency which would make it possible to generate around 10,000 euros per monthshows in any case that our relationship with the virtual is evolving and that many doors are definitely open for the machine. What HER teaches us, in its final minutes, is that despite the formidable ingenuity of artificial intelligence, it is only a crutch. And at no time should it be perceived in any other way.