New Delhi, Feb. 14 -- Director-writer Spike Jonze's 2013 sci-film Her, coincidentally set in 2025, depicts a gentle but doomed romance between a lonely writer Theodore and his personal operating system Samantha. In the end (spoiler alert), Theodore breaks down as he discovers Samantha is in a relationship with 8,316 other people and computers, and in love with 641 of them. Perhaps Jonze, who won an Oscar for his story, did not know then that he was merely portraying the future.

Cut to 2025, more Indians than ever are open to the idea of artificial love. A global survey of 7,000 adults by online consumer protection firm McAfee found more than 61% Indian respondents believed it is possible to develop feelings for an AI chatbot. Just over h...