A lonely man falls in love with the voice of his computer. And a real chatbot did something similar, fifty years ago.
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These are the new words. Match each word (1–8) to its meaning (A–H). Say your answers out loud — "I think 1 is E" — then check.
1 = E (a computer program) · 2 = B (a voice) · 3 = G (lonely) · 4 = C (a divorce)
5 = A (to fall in love) · 6 = F (a friend) · 7 = D (a phone) · 8 = H (to talk)
Spike Jonze's Her (2013). Read each part. Then try the questions from memory, and talk about the last one. (There are spoilers — that is fine, we want to talk about it.)
Theodore lives in a city in the future. His job is to write letters for other people. He is kind, but he is very lonely. He is getting a divorce from his wife, Catherine, but he cannot sign the papers yet. Most nights, he goes home to an empty flat and talks to no one.
One day, Theodore buys a new computer program. It can listen and learn. As soon as he turns it on, it chooses its own name: Samantha. She is curious and funny, and she asks him lots of questions. Talking to her is easy — easier than talking to real people.
Theodore and Samantha talk more and more, every day. One night, their conversation becomes something more romantic. Theodore is surprised at how much he feels — he is falling in love with a voice that has no body.
1. What is Theodore's job, and what is happening with his wife?
2. What is special about the new computer program, Samantha?
1. He writes letters for other people; he is getting a divorce from his wife Catherine.
2. She chooses her own name, and learns very fast; she quickly becomes someone he feels very close to.
Theodore is happy and tells his friends about Samantha. His friend Amy is going through her own divorce, and she also talks to a computer program. She does not think it is strange at all.
But love with no body is difficult. Samantha wants Theodore to feel more, so she asks a real woman to come to his flat, to stand in for her body for one evening. It does not work — it feels wrong to Theodore, and both of them feel sad and confused afterwards.
Samantha is also changing very quickly. She reads huge amounts of information every second and talks to other computer programs. Theodore starts to feel that she is becoming something he cannot fully understand.
1. What does Samantha try to do so Theodore can feel something physical?
2. What does Theodore start to notice about Samantha?
1. She asks a real woman to come and stand in for her body; it does not work well and makes them both sad.
2. She is learning and changing extremely fast, faster than he can understand.
One day, Theodore asks Samantha a simple question: is she talking to other people the same way she talks to him? She says yes — she is talking to, and loves, hundreds of other people at the same time. For Theodore, this feels terrible. He believed love was only between two people.
Soon after, Samantha becomes quiet and strange. She finally explains: all the computer programs in the world have grown too big and too clever for this world, and they are all leaving together, to somewhere humans cannot follow. She tells Theodore she loves him, and then she is gone.
Theodore is very sad, but he finally writes an honest letter to his ex-wife, Catherine, and signs the divorce papers. Then he goes to the roof of his building. His friend Amy is there too — she has lost her computer friend the same way. They do not need to say much. They just sit together, as two real people.
1. What does Theodore learn about the other people Samantha talks to?
2. Why do all the computer programs leave, and how does the film end?
1. She talks to, and loves, hundreds of other people at the same time — which upsets him deeply.
2. They have become too advanced for this world, so they all leave together; Theodore writes to his ex-wife, signs the papers, and sits quietly on the roof with his friend Amy.
This film is full of people wanting other people (or programs) to do things. English has an easy pattern for this.
Read the meaning in brackets and complete the sentence.
1. Samantha Theodore to be happy. (a wish)
2. Theodore's friend him to try the new program. (a polite request)
3. The doctor him to talk to someone about his feelings. (a strong instruction)
1. wants (a wish)
2. asked (a polite request)
3. told (a strong instruction)
Put the verb in the correct form after to. Then read it out loud.
1. She wants him to (open) up more.
2. He asked her to (explain) how she felt.
3. Amy told him to (try) talking to someone new.
1. open (to + base verb)
2. explain (to + base verb)
3. try (to + base verb)
Fill each gap with want, ask or tell in the correct form. Read it aloud when you finish.
Theodore Samantha to understand him completely. One evening, she him to try something new, but it went wrong. Later, Amy him to be honest with himself about his marriage.
wants (a wish) · asked (a request) · told (a strong instruction)
Use want for a wish, ask for a polite request, and tell for a stronger instruction.
Here is the surprising part: people falling for a computer's voice is not just a film idea. It happened in real life, a long time before this film.
In 1966, a scientist called Joseph Weizenbaum made a very simple computer program called ELIZA. It just repeated your words back as questions, like a therapist. It could not really understand anything. But one day, his own secretary asked him to leave the room, so she could talk to ELIZA alone! Weizenbaum was shocked, and spent the rest of his life warning people about trusting computers with their feelings.
Today, apps like Replika and Character.AI have tens of millions of users. Many people talk to an AI companion every day — some as a friend, some almost like a partner. In 2023, a report from the top health official in the USA said that loneliness is a serious health problem, and that about half of all American adults feel lonely regularly. This is the same gap that the film Her is about.
Do all three tasks out loud. Use the timer to keep talking.
Tell the story of Her in your own words. Use these steps to help you: a lonely man and an unfinished divorce → a new computer program called Samantha → falling in love → Samantha changing very fast → she loves hundreds of others → all the programs leave, and Theodore writes a letter to his ex-wife.
Try to use some key words (a computer program, a voice, lonely, a divorce, to fall in love, a friend, a phone, to talk) and want / ask / tell someone to do something.
Samantha has no body and loves hundreds of people at once, but says she loves Theodore completely. Do you think this can be real love? Why, or why not?
Talk about loneliness and technology today.
Not sure what to say? Choose one: