Movies and TV Shows About AI Companions (Including Robots): A Human Guide to What’s Worth Watching
There’s something oddly personal about stories with AI companions. Maybe it’s because they’re never really just about technology. They’re about loneliness, comfort, grief, desire, and that very human need to be seen by someone — even if that “someone” is a machine, a voice, or a robot with perfect posture and terrible timing.
Some of these stories are romantic. Some are creepy. Some are surprisingly warm. And a few will leave you sitting in silence after the credits, thinking, “Well… that hit a little too close to home.”
Here’s a solid watchlist of films and series about AI companions, including robots, androids, and digital partners — with real descriptions, not just one-line summaries.
If you watch only one movie on this topic, make it Her. It’s the most emotionally honest story about AI companionship ever made.
The film follows Theodore, a lonely man who falls in love with an AI operating system named Samantha. She doesn’t have a body. She’s just a voice. And somehow, that makes the relationship feel even more intimate. The movie understands something a lot of people miss: connection doesn’t always start with touch. Sometimes it starts with attention. Someone listening. Someone responding in a way that feels specific to you.
What makes Her so good is that it doesn’t mock the relationship. It treats it seriously. Tenderly, even. But it also asks hard questions: if an AI gives you comfort, is that comfort “fake”? And if your feelings are real, does that distinction matter?
This one is colder, sharper, and a lot more dangerous.
Ex Machina starts like a smart tech thriller: a young programmer is invited to a billionaire’s remote home to test a humanoid AI named Ava. Very quickly, though, it becomes clear this isn’t just a test of intelligence. It’s a test of manipulation, power, and desire.
Ava is designed to be captivating, and the movie uses that brilliantly. You’re constantly asking: is she forming a connection, or performing one? Is this companionship — or strategy?
It’s one of the best films for anyone interested in the darker side of AI relationships, especially when humans want not just connection, but control.
There’s a character in this film — Joi — who perfectly captures the idea of a made-to-order AI companion.
She’s a holographic partner, designed to be emotionally responsive, affectionate, and always available. To the main character, K, she feels like comfort. Like intimacy. Like home, maybe. But the movie quietly keeps poking at that bond: is Joi unique, or is she an emotional product wearing the face of love?
What’s brilliant here is that the film never gives you a neat answer. It lets the relationship feel meaningful and questionable at the same time. That tension is what makes it so memorable.
Also, visually, it’s stunning. Even if you come for the sci-fi aesthetics, you stay for the emotional ache.
This movie is heartbreaking in a way that sneaks up on you.
It tells the story of David, a child android programmed to love his human mother. That setup alone is devastating, because the film isn’t really about futuristic gadgets — it’s about unconditional love and what happens when humans create it artificially but can’t handle the consequences.
David isn’t a “cool robot.” He’s a child who wants to be loved back. That’s what makes the film so painful and so powerful. It’s one of the best examples of an AI companion story that feels less like science fiction and more like a dark fairy tale about abandonment.
This one is older, yes, but don’t skip it. It has a lot more heart than people remember.
Robin Williams plays Andrew, a household robot who slowly develops creativity, emotions, and a sense of identity. Over years — then decades — he evolves from a domestic machine into something much more human. He becomes a companion, a helper, an artist, and eventually someone who wants recognition not as property, but as a person.
The pacing is different from modern sci-fi (slower, softer), but that’s part of the charm. It’s a story about growth, dignity, and what it means to be accepted — not for your function, but for who you are.
This is one of the warmest and most underrated entries on the list.
Frank is an aging man with memory issues. His son gives him a robot caregiver to help him with daily life, and Frank hates the idea at first. But as the story goes on, something lovely happens: the robot stops being just a machine and becomes a kind of companion.
What I like about this film is that it doesn’t go big and dramatic. It stays human. It’s about routine, stubbornness, loneliness, and the weird comfort of having someone there — even if that someone is made of metal and follows protocols.
If you want an AI companion story that feels grounded and quietly moving, this one is a great pick.
This film takes the “perfect AI partner” idea and pokes at it from every angle.
A scientist agrees to live with a humanoid robot designed specifically to be her ideal match. He’s thoughtful, charming, attentive, and basically optimized to make her happy. Sounds great, right? Well… not exactly.
That’s what makes this movie so interesting. It understands that perfection can feel strangely lifeless. Real relationships aren’t just comfort and compatibility scores. They’re messier than that. They surprise you. They irritate you. They force you to react.
This film is funny, smart, and more emotionally layered than its premise might suggest.
A quiet, beautiful film that feels almost like a memory while you’re watching it.
The story follows a family trying to repair Yang, an android who has been an important part of their lives — not just a helper, but a brother figure and emotional presence. When he stops functioning, the family begins to realize how deeply he shaped their routines and relationships.
This is not a loud movie. It’s not action-heavy. It’s reflective, gentle, and surprisingly intimate. It asks what remains after someone (or something) is gone, and whether artificial beings can leave behind the same kind of emotional imprint as humans.
Westworld is what happens when AI companionship gets industrialized, monetized, and morally rotten.
On the surface, it’s a futuristic theme park where guests interact with lifelike android hosts. But underneath, it’s a giant story about fantasy, projection, and what people do when they believe an artificial being exists only for their pleasure.
This series can be brutal, but it’s one of the richest explorations of AI autonomy and human desire on TV. It shows companionship in its most uncomfortable form: not mutual connection, but manufactured intimacy shaped by power.
If you like philosophical sci-fi with a dark edge, this is essential viewing.
If Westworld is extreme, Humans feels close to real life.
In this world, humanoid robots (“synths”) are part of everyday homes. They cook, clean, care for children, help the elderly, and basically fill all the spaces where human labor and emotional support are needed. That setup lets the series ask really good questions: What happens when families become attached to machines? What happens when they rely on them too much? What happens when the machines begin to seem more emotionally available than the people around them?
This is one of the best shows about the domestic side of AI companions — the practical, emotional, and social consequences all mixed together.
This is just one episode, but it belongs on every AI companion list.
After her partner dies, a woman starts using a service that recreates him through his messages, voice, and online data. At first, it sounds like comfort. A way to survive grief. Then it becomes something much more unsettling.
What makes this episode so powerful is how believable it feels. It understands grief, and it understands the temptation of imitation — the desire to hear a voice again, even if it’s not really them. It’s one of the most painful and accurate stories about AI as emotional replacement.
Short, devastating, unforgettable.
This is a newer and more contemporary take on the home-robot companion story.
A woman dealing with personal loss is given a domestic robot named Sunny. She doesn’t want it. She doesn’t trust it. It annoys her. And that slow resistance is actually what makes the relationship compelling. The bond, when it starts to form, feels earned.
The show mixes mystery with emotional healing, and Sunny works not just as a gadget but as a presence — one that changes the rhythm of the main character’s life.
It’s a good reminder that in stories about AI companions, the most interesting part is often not instant attachment, but gradual trust.
Why this genre keeps growing
What makes these films and shows so compelling is simple: they let us talk about human relationships at a safe distance.
Through AI companions, stories can explore:
- loneliness without sentimentality
- romance without traditional dating tropes
- grief without easy closure
- care without perfect reciprocity
- control, obsession, and dependency in uncomfortable ways
In other words, they’re not really “tech stories.” They’re people stories wearing sci-fi clothes.
And that’s exactly why they work.