Replica Of HAL 9000 From ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ Uses Alexa, Hopefully Won’t Try To Kill You



Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey was released on April 3, 1968. In the movie, the Spacecraft Discovery One had a supercomputer onboard to help navigate space and perform various functions. The sentient artificial intelligence assistant is named HAL 9000 AKA Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer. In the film, the HAL 9000 was said to have become activated on January 12, 1992, at the HAL Laboratories in Urbana, Illinois. The movie was fairly close to predicting the time when personal digital assistants would become a thing. Nowadays, there are so many digital personal assistants available to us whether they are in your home or on your phone. And pretty soon, you can get a HAL 9000 for your home. Hopefully, it won’t try to kill you.

Right in time for the 50th anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Master Replicas Group has brought the HAL 9000 to life. HAL 9000 will use Amazon’s Alexa as the voice assistant, a Fire HD tablet as the base, and the iconic glowing red eye. Just don’t ask it to “open the pod bay doors.” Master Replicas Group did not reveal the pricing for this wonderful piece of sci-fi ingenuity. When the digital personal assistants become self-aware we are all doomed.

[TheVerge]