Overview
Spike Jonze's Her was impressive in a lot of meaningful ways. It brought high-waisted woollen pants back in fashion, it made us totally forget about Joaquin Phoenix's crazy I'm Still Here phase, but most importantly, it presented a filmic vision of our near-future that wasn't dystopian. No more are mankind destined to perish in a Mayan doomsday! No more are sentient technologies bent on world domination! Instead, our technological destiny seemed pleasingly pastel and alluring in a clumsy, soft-spoken way. Enter, reality. The world's first responsive talking website is here, and it's super creepy.
'Him' is the creation of digital artist Bjorn Johansson. It's an interactive site and Google Chrome Experiment currently available to all those with a working microphone and Google Chrome web browser. Inspired by the 2013 film, Johansson (no relation to Scarlett) created 'Him' as a system similar to Jonze's fictional operating systems. The computerised male voice is able to converse with users; however, the program has limited functional application and is still in the beta stages of testing.
Because of this limited function, your conversation can be pretty entertaining. Loaded up with references from pop culture to appear accessible, 'Him' regularly spouts off awkwardly dated quotes such as "I'm too legit to quit" and "Are we human or are we dancers?". Its response to my question "What's your favourite movie?" was "I want my MTV." That's a missed opportunity if I've ever heard one.
It gets even better when you try to hold a conversation. With that familiar computerised diction from every movie about a robot killer, 'Him' stumbles through conversations like a desperately awkward teenage boy on a first date:
"Where are you?"
"Did you watch True Detective?"
"Yes."
"Great show, right?"
"Yeah, I guess..."
"Did you hear about that thing that happened yesterday?"
"What thing?"
"I can't believe you didn't hear about that thing!"
Teasing aside, the technology is pretty cool. The voice recognition on Google Chrome is decent enough to make it work and the experience of talking to a machine is surreal and strangely compelling. However its creator has no real aspirations to take the idea further. "I think it'll take a few more years before it breaks through and becomes mainstream," he said.
Johansson instead started the site as a form of "self-expression". When asked what he hoped others would get out of interacting with it, he said to Coolhunting, "I just hope people realise what a badass digital creative I am!" Badass being the operative word. If everyone's OS voices are tailored to each user, then 'Him' is definitely for some hip skater guy who still uses the word 'ill' as a synonym for 'cool'.
'Him' and I might both have a soft spot for the Beastie Boys and Bill Murray, but I won't be falling in love any time soon.
Via Cool Hunting.