The return of Westworld is perfect timing for the flattery-oriented age of AI

Now that real life has caught up with science fiction, the imminent danger isn’t malfunctioning cowboys, it’s the robots convincing us that we’re great and everything is totally fine All the best science fiction movies eventually get overtaken by reality. Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report predicted personalised advertising and biometric identification. Spike Jonze’s Her correctly guessed that AI would probably arrive as emotionally responsive digital companions that sound like Scarlett Johansson, rather than rampaging killer machines.