Personality Profiles of Pop-Culture Computers

This is the big guy. The character to which any conversational computers are inevitably compared. Created by Arthur C. Clarke and brought to the screen in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL thoughtfully illustrated both the possibilities and the potential dangers of thinking machines.

From a personality design standpoint, however, HAL left a bit to be desired. With the voice of a plain-spoken, late-night radio host, HAL was very much a utilitarian, task-oriented on-board computer. Though he played chess, and paid attention to the stress-levels of his human counterparts, he offered little in the way of light-hearted companionship during the long journey through space.

HAL’s monotone voice, his analytical responses, and his glass-enclosed camera lens, inevitably left the audience with the feeling that HAL was very much dead inside. As a stylistic choice, this impression served the story remarkably well, especially considering the path HAL’s character took near the end of the film. But as a model for cognitive, conversational interfaces, HAL exemplifies the exact opposite of what it should feel like to talk to a computer. Though they may be truthful, outward characteristics which emphasize the soul-less, mechanical nature of a device only deepen the divide between humans and computers instead of building a bridge.