Could you fall in love with an artificial intelligence? When Spike Jonze's film, Her, came out 10 years ago, the question still seemed hypothetical. The gradual romance between Joaquin Phoenix's character Theodore and Scarlett Johansson's Samantha, an operating system that embraces his vulnerabilities, felt firmly rooted in science fiction. But just one year after the film's release, in 2014, Amazon's Alexa was introduced to the world. Talking to a computer in your home became normalised. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Personified AI has since infiltrated more areas of our lives.

From ChatGPT to virtual girlfriends, a range of weird and wonderful chatbots have emerged in recent months amid the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI). But the latest AI-powered app is arguably the most bizarre yet. Users of the erotic audio platform, BLOOM, can now send and receive sexts and voice notes from their favourite characters, with the launch of AI'roleplaying' chatbots. The move, which its creators say will set a'new, realistic standard for pleasure' will let BLOOM's nearly half a million users directly chat with characters from erotica and receive voice messages in the characters' voices. The AI model powering these chatbots has been trained to ensure they stay true to the style and personality of the audio-story characters, so, whether you're chatting with Rob the charming ranch hand or having a late-night conversation with'strict German Professor Roman', the AI ensures the bot never breaks character.

Jordan Harrison's gently uncanny play imagines a future solution for a person in mourning: the recreation of someone you love as an artificial intelligence. In the early stages of dementia, Marjorie (a shining Anne Reid) finds comfort in Walter Prime, an AI version of her dead husband. Richard Fleeshman offers a pristine performance as Walter, whom Marjorie has chosen to have re-created as his handsome, 30-year-old self. There is a delightfully unearthly edge to Fleeshman's gait and smile, but as Walter reminds Marjorie of joyful days they spent together, there is also genuine warmth between them. She knows he's not real but he offers her time, attention and memories in ways that the other people around her struggle to.

Every time Marjorie recounts a story to her husband Walter, his refrain isn't, "I remember that now." Instead it's, "I'll remember that now." That shift from present to future tense is pivotal because he cannot recall those moments from their marriage – flags in the park, the death of their son, what bad film was playing when he proposed – because he was never there. Walter is Walter Prime, a sophisticated AI serving as Marjorie's companion. The real Walter (Jon Hamm) has been dead for decades, while 86-year-old Marjorie (Five Easy Pieces' Lois Smith) is going senile.