Alexa, meet Lauren: L.A. artist turns her apartment into an experiment in artificial intelligence

At 9 on a Friday night, I knocked on a door in a nondescript Los Angeles apartment building. The only distinguishing feature was a small label with red text that read "Lauren." Soon came a whirring sound and the click of the door unlocking. My night with Lauren had begun. Lauren is the creation of artist and UCLA professor Lauren McCarthy, whose weeklong interactive performance was part of the IDFA DocLab, an International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam showcase for new-media projects, and also part of "Vulnerability: The Space Between," an exhibition at Young Projects Gallery in West Hollywood.