This post contains big spoilers for Her.
Spike Jonze’s Her raised many questions on the future of artificial intelligence (AI), and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone more qualified to discuss the technology that permeates through the movie than the renowned futurist Ray Kurzweil. In a blog post, the author, who joined Google in 2012 to work on machine learning and voice processing, discusses the feasibility of Her’s AI, concluding that companions with a similar capacity to Samantha could become reality within 15 years. He suggests other futuristic elements found in the movie, such as pin-sized “freckle cameras” and diffident video game characters, may be with us at the end of the current decade. Perhaps more interesting than the date projections are Kurzwell’s thoughts on the themes and plot points presented in the film. Perhaps unsurprisingly given his scientific background, Kurzweil comes at Her pragmatically, calling her seemingly rapid “evolution” and her ultimate desertion unrealistic, both technically and cinematically.