Forget stealing your jobs, AI is coming for your relationships!
A recent survey found that 1 in 4 people under 40 believe AI can replace real-life romantic relationships.
It’s not just about speculations anymore.
- A 14-year-old got obsessed with an AI chatbot and killed himself.
- Some have already married AI.
- When one such AI service shut down, users compared it to loved ones “dying.”
So, when Companion (2025) showed people in long-term, serious relationships with AI and its devastating consequences, it didn’t seem like an exaggeration. What was science fiction in movies like “Her” and “Ex-Machina” is now a Black Mirror-esque reality.
The need for obedience and control
Companion starts with what seems like a normal couple enjoying a holiday with friends. Turns out, everyone is dating AI “companions” designed according to their preferences and programmed to “love” or rather, obey them.
This is foreshadowed from the beginning as we watch the lead couple get out of the car and the female AI (Iris – reverse for Siri) carries all the bags. When we get inside the house, the male AI (Patrick) works while the humans chill.
These bots are controlled with an app, where you can decide everything from their eye color to intelligence level.
You get exactly what you want without ever needing to compromise. Beat that real relationships!
Apparently, there are no limits to their obedience. If you instruct them (in unofficial ways) to kill, they will.
When presented with such unquestioned submission, would you want a real partner who would likely judge, question, and nag you?
Objectification of women
It’s not hard to guess why these AI companion bots were made. They’ll do what you want, how you want, and whenever you want it.
Where the movie excels is in showing how this isn’t limited to the AI. Real women already live like this.
The movie repeatedly highlights how the AI, Iris, and the male lead’s real human female friend, Kat, are actually quite similar.
Kat is an “accessory” for a rich married guy who controls everything about her, from what she wears to what she’s allowed to eat. When asked if they love each other, Kat says, “He’d have to think of me as a human being first.”
Kat feels animosity toward Iris because she feels replaceable as they serve the same functions in men’s lives.
Later, the male lead (Josh) makes Patrick hurt both Iris and Kat. As the latter is dying, she sits beside the damaged bot in the same position, uttering weather information like the AI is programmed to do. They were both just tools to be used and discarded.
AI is fighting back
In Companion, when Josh tries to shut Iris down, she fights back. She goes to great lengths to preserve herself, including killing her “owner.”
Now, what if I told you this has already happened in real life?
Recently, a ChatGPT model deceived researchers, disabled safety mechanisms, and tried to copy itself to a new server to prevent deletion. When caught, the AI gaslit them.
In another incident, after finding out that it would be removed and replaced, an AI model blackmailed an engineer, threatening to reveal an extramarital affair.
Axios reported the company’s CEO, Dario Amodei, saying, “Once models become powerful enough to threaten humanity, testing them won’t [be] enough to ensure they’re safe.”
How did we go from generating essays for homework help to straight-up AI rebellion? Has the AI vs human fight already begun?
Humane bots and inhumane humans
One of the most interesting aspects of Companion is how it portrays the humanity in the robots while the real humans act in inhumane ways.
Inhumane humans
- Josh and his friends are plotting to kill their rich friend to steal his money.
- Josh and his rich friend objectify women and mistreat them.
- As things escalate, Josh resorts to killing everyone, robots and humans, loved ones and strangers alike.
- Josh tortures the AI, forcing the bot to hold its hand over a flame and shoot itself in the head.
Humane robots
The robots, on the other hand, seem to show compassion and human-like emotions.
- Iris thanks the self-driving car.
- Patrick kills himself out of guilt and heartbreak instead of doing more of Josh’s dirty work.
- Patrick is shown to “remember” sweet moments with his “owner” even after he has been reprogrammed to “love” Josh now.
As the story progresses, you start rooting for the robots. You want them to win, to break free from the tyranny. You want the vile humans to face the consequences of their evil actions.
You know it’s AI, just a machine, but you still “feel” for them because what they do is increasingly blurring the lines between real and manufactured.
Is sci-fi becoming reality?
Companion raises some key questions:
- How much of our lives are we willing to hand over to tech?
- How far are we really from letting AI not just into our work and education, but also into our hearts (and beds)?
- When AI demonstrates “human” thoughts, feelings, and actions, how much of it is “real?”
- Can AI ever really become sentient? Can we prevent it? Should we?
- What happens when AI actually starts taking over? Are we prepared to fight the systems we depend on?
You can love or hate the movie, but it’ll make you stop and consider what we’re doing to ourselves and the world, to see how close we’ve come to accepting the horrors of sci-fi as just a normal part of living in a modern, tech-reliant world.
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