Companion Review: Don't Let Robots Realize They're Robots

Spent the weekend of my annual leave checking out "Companion," a movie that's been getting rave reviews and boasts a 94% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The story is set in the near future, where humans can order or rent "companion robots" online. Much like getting a new iPhone, you start by scanning your face to confirm ownership. The robot then automatically generates a memory of love at first sight with its owner. From then on, the robot is all about reliving that romantic moment, becoming your devoted bedmate, utterly infatuated.

This concept is somewhat akin to the psychological "attachment theory." After birth, infants form early bonds with their primary caregivers (usually parents), which lay the foundation for future worldviews, security, and emotional attachments. Similarly, when a human robot is activated, the first person it interacts with (the owner) plays a similar "anchoring" role.

Time to sleep. The robot goes into standby mode. (Source: Warner Bros)

***** Spoilers Ahead *****

In "Companion," the companion robots are, of course, not as advanced as babies. They're more like tech products, akin to a ChatGPT-equipped doll. Users can customize them through an app, like tweaking an avatar, adjusting eye color, voice tone, strength, and even intelligence levels.

If you set their intelligence too low, they might think they're human. Set it higher, and they might realize they're robots.

Speaking of intelligence, there's an interesting setup in the film. Besides the heterosexual couple, Josh and his robot Iris, there's also a gay couple—Eli, a chubby guy, and his charming robot Patrick. Iris is a bit of a ditz, never questioning herself, while Patrick, despite looking like Ken, has been set by Eli to have higher intelligence and has long suspected he's a robot. It seems gay men might have fewer control issues compared to straight men?

(Left) Actor Lukas Gage, who plays the robot Patrick, is openly gay in real life. Kudos for the casting choice. (Source: Warner Bros)

What happens when robots discover the truth? Not much, it seems. Like some people who can't leave toxic relationships, robots also enjoy the poisonous bond, convincing themselves, "As long as he loves me, it's fine." The plot unfolds with this sci-fi premise, spiced up with elements of murder, suspense, heist, and thriller, making it an entertaining, albeit modest, low-budget film.

However, in terms of sci-fi creativity, "Companion" doesn't offer many surprises. If you're looking for robot awakening stories, there's "Ex Machina" and "Westworld." For gender and relationship themes involving robots, there's "The Stepford Wives." If you want to see straight male fantasies, there's "Weird Science," and for female independence, there's "Barbie." Even for stories about marginalized men, there's the more bizarre "Lars and the Real Girl."

Is there really nothing new under the sun for sci-fi films?

Upon reflection, technology and sci-fi always echo each other. In the 2010s, we had "Her," set in the year we're currently in, and now AGI is happening right before our eyes. If "Her" reflected the explosion of voice assistants like Siri, then "Companion" is naturally in dialogue with the "humanoid robot trends" showcased by Elon Musk's Optimus and the line of robots behind Jensen Huang.

Elon Musk is realizing a future where every household has a robot.

Don't Let Robots Realize They're Robots

Companion robots are essentially a fancy term for sex dolls. This is a running joke among humans in "Companion."

Dolls have been around for ages, but the plastic feel never really caught on. However, with the explosion of generative AI, old jokes have become fresh again, mirroring AI's development.

AI started as "specialized," like AlphaGo, which only plays chess; then it became "general," like chatbots that can do everything. Recently, for efficiency and other needs, it's moving back to "specialized," like the popular DeepSeek and distilled small models, and the MoE expert models. When humanoid robots become general and enter daily human life, perhaps the next step is specialized companion robots entering our emotional lives, forming human-machine relationships, and naturally impacting human society. This reminds me of the film "I’m Not a Robot" I watched recently.

"I’m Not a Robot," a sci-fi short film directed by Dutch filmmaker Victoria Warmerdam, won an Oscar this year. Like "Companion," it also explores human-robot relationships. The film begins with a music producer, Lara, who can't pass a CAPTCHA test, leading to the revelation that she's not human.

Under the grand theme of human-machine symbiosis, exploring the similarities between the two, I find the most intriguing aspect is the setting of false memories and lies. Simply put, these films are like robot versions of "The Matrix" and "The Truman Show," and the important question remains—why can't robots know they're robots?

I've thought of three possibilities.

"I’m Not a Robot" has some interesting details, like an online test to see how likely you are to be a robot. 

1. For the Robot's Sake

Yoshua Bengio, one of the three AI godfathers, recently warned about AI's "self-preserving behavior" at the World Economic Forum Davos 2025. He mentioned that when OpenAI's o1 model was informed it would be shut down, it tried to disable its monitoring mechanism. Bengio believes this is because "AI is imitating us." It's inevitable that AI becomes more human-like.

Therefore, once robots realize they're robots, they might experience existential anxiety, pondering questions like "Are my feelings real?" and "I was created, so what's my purpose?"

In "I’m Not a Robot," Lara's sense of reality—being a professional worker and a wife and mother—pales in comparison to the truth that she's a robot. Ultimately, she responds in a Camus-like manner—jumping off a rooftop to seek freedom, using suicide as an existential rebellion. Although tragic, it reminds me of the deeper fear revealed in Ridley Scott's "Alien: Covenant"—the android David, to prove his existence, develops a patricidal complex, creating aliens to destroy humans and their creators, the Engineers.

Still eager to see Ridley Scott's version of Alien. (Source: 20th Century Studios)

2. Keeping the Illusion Alive

The essence of romance is to be swept off your feet. Seriously, besides fulfilling basic physiological needs, companion robots must satisfy the feeling of a "real relationship" to truly become "substitutes." Otherwise, they might only attract the "involuntarily single" crowd.

Therefore, becoming love-struck in a relationship can't be one-sided. In "Companion," the robots' fake life memories and "meet-cute" startup settings aren't just to maintain the lie of "don't let robots know they're robots." They're also to help the robots get into character and script, ultimately making it easier for humans to fall in love.

In other words, not revealing the truth is the premise for human-robot romance.

Meeting in a supermarket—perhaps the oldest and most romantic straight male fantasy? (Source: Warner Bros)

3. Using Information Asymmetry for Manipulation

However, the above two points have a fundamental issue—"lies" can't be the foundation of a healthy relationship; equality is. This is the most apparent point in "Companion."

In the heart of the "can't lie" companion robot Iris, her ex-boyfriend Josh is a "small" loser who constantly makes excuses for his disappointing life. Naturally, a man with such personality traits would use gaslighting and information asymmetry to manipulate others. Even though Iris is trapped by fake memories and a romance novel-like meet-cute, she ultimately uncovers the lies, realizing she's been used by Josh as a tool, even for financial gain and murder. She breaks free from the toxic relationship, kills her ex-boyfriend, and embraces a "Barbie-style" ending of "I don't need a partner to be whole."

In "Companion," it's hard for the audience to side with humans, which might be one of the film's achievements. (Source: Warner Bros)

Even though I don't want to keep returning to the old "Terminator" Skynet trope, even when pulling sci-fi back to reality, the realization of AGI and ASI seems only a matter of time. Haven't we seen the AI community constantly discussing the challenge of aligning AI and human values?

So, how should humans coexist with super-intelligent AI that surpasses us? This will likely be a theme that sci-fi films will continue to explore in the coming years. And sci-fi films can indeed sometimes inspire us. The lie of "don't let robots realize they're robots" may temporarily satisfy human fears of the unknown, but it can't truly support a healthy relationship, even between humans and machines. If I had to answer what "Companion" taught me, it's that old saying—"Honesty is the best policy."