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I’m a busy bee, folks. Between work, sleep, and shamelessly binging endless amounts of new movies and TV shows, some parts of life just fall by the wayside. When people ask me about my dating life, I start malfunctioning with sparks spurting from my ears. Dating life? What’s that? When do people have time to have one of those? Can I outsource it? Can ChatGPT save me from dying alone? Jokes aside, outsourcing your dating life is the plot of Robots, out now on Prime Video.
What’s Robots All About?
Robots is truly a rom-com for the AI-era, giving us a hilarious glimpse as to what ~the future~ could be like. Jack Whitehall plays Charles, who starts off as a bit of a self-centred slob if we’re honest. “Altruism doesn’t get you laid if no-one knows about it” is a hell of a mantra to live by. He sends his robot, C2, to endure “the tedium of dating” so he can reap the physical benefits.
He meets Elaine, played by Shailene Woodley, who is also using a robot to do her dirty work — in more ways than one. The couple find out that both of them have been using android doubles, and now they’re running away to start a life together. In this universe, it’s illegal to own a robot of this type for civilian use, so now the new not-couple must take after them or the jig is up.
Could Robots Work IRL?
Now, we in the real world aren’t quite (yet!) at that point of technological advancement like Robots, but the movie got me thinking — could it ever really work? Charles also sends C2 to work for him and do the basic, mundane errands that we all wish we could have a break from. I mean, I could get ChatGPT to try and write this article for me, but frankly I’d be scared it would do a better job and then I’d get jealous.
From a dating perspective, sending an AI-version of yourself to withstand all the BS of dating apps would honestly… be divine. You’d dodge lousy pickup lines. The grossest people on those apps would never even come close to you. You wouldn’t even have to experience those cringeworthy bad dates!
But, obviously, you also wouldn’t get to experience the magical, good dates (or the food you might’ve eaten) and that’s something I’m just not quite ready to give up.
And Then There’s the Sex in Robots
Given sex is the entire endgame of one-half of this rom-com, robot sex is a big part of this movie. In fact, robot-on-robot action is a decent part of Robots, and it’s hilarious every time. This movie doesn’t hold back on the more adult jokes — one of the first scenes showcases C2 shaving Charles’ goods in the shower.
Now, I definitely don’t want to ever see robot me have sex with robot anyone else, or human anyone else for that matter. But I also definitely don’t want to be in the middle of the deed only to see my partner’s eyes twitch and overheat before shutting down.
Human-on-robot sex is not for me, but no kink-shaming here — frankly, Robots isn’t kink-shaming either. In fact, C2 and E2 have probably the healthiest relationship on all levels that we see. Not bad for two beings without internal organs.
At its core, Robots is a great time. Your mind doesn’t have to explore the annals of what AI means for our love lives off the back of it as I did, but you can experience all the fun for yourself on Prime Video now.
This article originally appeared on POPSUGAR Australia.