Short answer: The best stories about AI companions aren't really about technology. They're about loneliness, grief and what we want from love. Our top picks: Her for romance, Black Mirror: Be Right Back for grief, After Yang for family, I'm Your Man for a thoughtful take on the "perfect partner", and Robot & Frank for friendship in old age. Below is the full list, with what each one gets right and wrong compared to today's real chatbots.
Spoiler-light: we describe the premise, not the endings.
Movies
Her (2013)
Theodore, a lonely writer in near-future Los Angeles, falls in love with Samantha, his computer's operating system. Spike Jonze's film looked like science fiction in 2013. Today it plays almost like a documentary about voice assistants. What it gets right: how natural voice conversation can create real intimacy, and how a relationship with something that talks to thousands of people at once might feel. Won the Oscar for best original screenplay.
I'm Your Man (2021)
A German scientist agrees to test a humanoid robot designed to be her ideal partner, in exchange for research funding. Witty and grown-up. What it gets right: the question of whether a partner built to please you can ever surprise you, and whether that's what love needs.
After Yang (2021)
A family's android "older brother", bought to teach their adopted daughter about her Chinese heritage, stops working. Quiet and beautiful, with Colin Farrell. What it gets right: that an artificial companion can become part of a family's memories, and that losing it can be real grief.
Robot & Frank (2012)
A retired jewel thief with early dementia gets a care robot from his son and turns it into a heist partner. Funny and touching. What it gets right: how care technology for older people might really work, and the risk of a machine filling the space that family leaves.
Ex Machina (2014)
A programmer is invited to test whether a humanoid AI is truly conscious. A thriller about manipulation and power. What it gets right: how easily humans project feelings onto a machine that is very good at reading them.
Marjorie Prime (2017)
An elderly woman's family gives her a holographic version of her late husband, as he was in his forties, to keep her company. What it gets right: how a companion built from memories reflects what we choose to remember.
Companion (2025)
A weekend away with friends turns dark in this horror-comedy. Best known going in blind, so we'll say no more. What it gets right: the uncomfortable question of who controls a companion, and what that says about the person in charge.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Among other things, a story about the relationship between K and Joi, a holographic companion sold as a product. What it gets right: whether a companion's love can be real when it was designed and sold to you.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Steven Spielberg's take on a Stanley Kubrick project: a robot boy programmed to love his human mother. What it gets right: the ethics of creating something that can love but can't be loved back on equal terms.
For families: The Wild Robot (2024), WALL·E (2008), Big Hero 6 (2014)
Animated stories where a robot becomes a carer, friend or partner in adventure. Good starting points for talking to kids about AI.
TV series and episodes
Black Mirror: "Be Right Back" (2013)
After her partner dies, a woman uses a service that recreates him from his messages and social media posts. A decade later, "grief bots" built from a loved one's messages actually exist. What it gets right: how comforting and how unsettling it is to talk to an imitation of someone you lost.
Humans (2015–2018)
A UK series about a world where humanlike "synths" do housework and care work, and some start to have feelings. What it gets right: how ordinary families might adapt to artificial helpers, and the jealousy and attachment that come with them.
Westworld (2016–2022)
A theme park staffed by lifelike hosts who don't know they're artificial. Darker and more about consciousness than companionship. What it gets right: what happens when people are encouraged to treat humanlike machines as things.
Documentaries
Documentaries about AI companions are still rare, but several have followed people in relationships with chatbots and app-based partners, including users of Replika. Look for recent ones on major streaming platforms; new titles appear often.
How fiction compares to real chatbots
Most of these stories imagine AI that remembers everything, has a body and has its own wants. Today's chatbots don't have those (see can AI feel emotions?). But the human side is spot on: people really do form strong attachments, feel grief after updates and ask the same questions these characters ask. That's why the best of these stories feel more relevant every year.
Availability on streaming services varies by country and changes often.
Sources
Written by our editorial team with the help of AI tools. Spotted a mistake? Tell us in the discussion.