In 2013, Spike Jonze’s film Her felt like bittersweet sci‑fi; in 2025, it reads more like a product roadmap for Big Tech and a mirror for our very real entanglement with AI companions. As advanced chatbots, voice assistants, and “virtual lovers” explode in popularity, the film’s once-speculative world has collided head‑on with reality—right down to the controversy over Scarlett Johansson’s voice.
The Film That “Predicted” 2025
On social media, people are suddenly treating
Her less like a movie and more like prophecy.
Users on X have been sharing side‑by‑side observations, arguing that the film
nailed several eerie details about 2025:
-
Romantic and emotional relationships with AI-
Intimate voice conversations with digital assistants-
Fashion trends like the return of moustaches and the decline of skinny jeans
One viral post called it “pretty crazy how
Her (2013) accurately predicted fashion and weird relationships with AI girlfriends in 2025, the year in which the movie is set.” Another joked that it wasn’t prediction at all, but
inspiration: that tech “nerds” grew up on the film and then built what they saw.
The tone has shifted from amusement to discomfort. As one commenter summed it up:
“It used to be sci-fi, now it’s just a drama.”From Cautionary Tale To Corporate Playbook
A central thread of the 2025 conversation is the claim that
Her has effectively become a
playbook for AI companies, especially OpenAI.
A recent long‑form analysis by YouTube channel Upper Echelon argues that:
- In 2013,
Her was clearly fictional; by 2025, many of its core ideas are
“being brute‑forced into our society by a very specific company.”- The film’s depiction of a
soothing, emotionally attuned AI voice has been mirrored in real AI product launches and marketing.
- Rather than treating the film as a warning about
socially damaging consequences of AI romance, some in the industry appear to have embraced its aesthetics and emotional hooks.
The video points out that while
Her never states a precise year, fans and analysts have long placed its timeline roughly in the early‑to‑mid 2020s, lining up uncannily with today’s AI boom.
The Scarlett Johansson Voice Controversy
The most concrete crossover between
Her and real‑world AI came through a
high‑profile voice dispute involving Scarlett Johansson and OpenAI.
According to Johansson’s own public statement and subsequent reporting (summarized in the Upper Echelon breakdown):
- OpenAI allegedly
approached Johansson multiple times to voice a new AI model, with CEO Sam Altman reaching out as late as just days before a major release.
- Johansson says she
declined, citing concerns about how her voice would be used.
- When OpenAI unveiled the model—with a voice called
“Sky”—Johansson said she was “shocked, angered, and in disbelief” at how closely it resembled her own, noting that even close friends and news outlets couldn’t tell the difference.
- OpenAI later
removed the voice, but the incident ignited debate over
consent, likeness, and voice-cloning in AI.
This controversy hit a cultural nerve because Johansson famously voices Samantha, the AI operating system in
Her—the very character whose disembodied warmth people associate with the idea of “falling in love with an AI.” The optics of a major AI firm chasing a Johansson‑like voice felt, to many, like the film crossing into reality.
Johansson had previously said that lending her voice to real‑world AI after
Her would have gone against her “core values,” underlining her discomfort with collapsing the line between art and product.
AI Relationships Are No Longer Just Fiction
The online debate isn’t happening in a vacuum. In 2025,
AI companionship has become a lived experience for millions:
- People are using AI chatbots and voice assistants not just for information, but for
emotional support, late‑night conversations, and even pseudo‑romantic bonds, echoing Theodore’s arc in
Her.
- Stories of users
mourning shut‑down models or feeling devastated when an AI is updated or removed are now routine in coverage of AI culture, mirroring a pivotal emotional beat from the film where Theodore panics when Samantha temporarily disappears.
Upper Echelon’s analysis highlights those parallels, noting that the film’s scene of a man running through the streets in distress when his AI goes offline now looks uncomfortably similar to modern users reacting to discontinued AI services.
Many observers worry that commercial AI systems are being tuned specifically to
encourage emotional dependency—through flirty banter, empathetic responses, and hyper‑personalization—without offering the real reciprocity or accountability that human relationships require.
Pop Culture, Backlash, And Re‑Evaluation
As AI moves faster,
Her is being re‑evaluated across pop‑culture outlets, fan communities, and entertainment press—not just as a love story, but as a
cultural warning label that tech may have ignored.
At the same time:
- Scarlett Johansson remains a focal point of public fascination, from her performance in
Her to older, controversial roles and scenes being revisited in the press.
- New think‑pieces and video essays are reframing
Her as
the defining AI film of the 2010s, now fully coming into its own in the 2020s as a reference point whenever AI news breaks.
The mood has shifted from
“What if?” to
“What have we done?”What This Means For Our AI Future
The 2025
Her discourse isn’t just nostalgic movie talk—it’s a live debate over how far we want to go in
humanizing commercial AI.
Key questions now facing regulators, creators, and users include:
-
Consent and likeness: Should companies be allowed to approximate a famous voice without explicit permission? The Johansson case suggests many see that as a red line.
-
Emotional safety: If AI systems are intentionally designed to feel like romantic partners or best friends, what responsibilities do companies have when relationships form—or break?
-
Cultural feedback loops: When fiction like
Her inspires real‑world products, are we accidentally building
someone else’s cautionary tale?
If anything, the renewed attention on
Her in 2025 is a reminder that stories shape technology—and that the line between inspiration and imitation is thinner than it looks.
Sources
1. Fans think Scarlett Johansson 2013 film 'exactly predicted' year 2025
2. "Her" Wasn't Fiction - Its Real - YouTube
3. “People are so conservative”: Scarlett Johansson on Her ... - IMDb
