Original subtitles

[Tawny] Previously on The Girlfriend Experience...

[Christophe] You all came here for a reason.

Aim far.

[voice recording rewinding]

[recording] ...put your arms around each other.

Human connection.

Let's kick it up a notch.

We want this thing to read and write human emotions.

We have to start treating it like a human.

Emcee, can you hear me?

[unsettling vocal music plays]

[Hiram] Once you press Play,

it's impossible to predict what comes next.

[Iris] To keep us wanting more.

Desire, once met, will be succeeded by another desire.

Once we get what we want, we want something else.

[Rupert] I love you.

I love you too.

[recruiter] Any red flags we should know about?

-The fuck is this? -[Iris] I just turned it on.

[Brett] What the fuck for?

[Tawny] You're not recording them, are you?

Tawny, I'm trying to be smart.

[Sean] Iris Stanton. It was nice running into you.

-[Skip] You're being summoned. -Summoned?

[Skip] Car's waiting downstairs.

Wait, can you just tell me what's going on?

[electronic humming plays]

♪

[unsettling music plays]

♪

[Winston] Hello.

Please, have a seat.

[footsteps approaching]

[Christophe] Iris Stanton.

Glad you made it. Have you two met?

Winston, head of Legal.

Drink? Orange juice?

-[Iris] Uh, no, I'm okay. -[Christophe] Water okay?

So, normally,

we just fire you--

an employee crosses a line, that's it.

But then, as I had my team look into the situation

a little more thoroughly, I began to realize

there's a different way of looking at it.

I slept on it.

Then I felt pretty strongly about it:

"Let's have a real conversation with Iris Stanton."

What kind of line do you think was crossed?

[Christophe] What you're doing with these clients.

You call them "clients," right?

Look, I don't know what Sean told you,

but that was a pri--

Sean doesn't matter; he isn't part of this conversation.

I'll say this, and I mean it:

it's rich, it's intimate,

and there is one constant.

It's you.

What you're doing is more high-fidelity

than any other setup I've seen.

[Iris] And what is it I'm doing?

-I just turned it on. -[Brett] What the fuck for?

A blackmail? Jesus fucking Christ.

God, Cassie, what is wrong with you?

-[Iris] Are you mad now? -[Brett] What?

What?

[Iris] Mad now?

[Brett] I...

oh, you fucking bitch.

-[Iris chuckles on recording] -[button clicks twice]

[Iris] Brett, session one.

He uses anger to express desire.

Unclear what his hang-up is.

It feels like he wants me to flip some sort of switch.

-[button clicks] -[recording stops]

That's one hell of a way of collecting data.

[Iris] Do you listen to all

of your employees' private conversations?

You uploaded it to our servers.

It's in your contract.

The moment you're in breach,

NGM has the right to tap in to your devices.

One, use of company property for personal profit;

two, use of company IP outside the normal business duties;

three, use of company property and company IP

outside company premises.

Four, what the fuck was she thinking?

The system flags the log-in as soon as she hits Enter.

Analytics gets involved. They ring me up.

And it didn't take very long for me to take an interest

in the idea of Cassie.

She has her moments.

Tell me, Iris.

If you were in my place, heading this company,

what would you do if it could be anything?

Cash in quickly? Dream big?

[Iris] Can't it be both?

If you had to choose?

I would train AI to deliver the perfect fuck.

Whatever auxiliary device you insert

or insert yourself into,

it engages in real time, fully adaptive.

The more you fuck it,

the better it gets at fucking you.

[Christophe] Using neural nets

as an extension of your own hand

is a little pedestrian, don't you think?

[Iris] Every medium ever invented

has had to pass the same test.

There's no reason to think AI would be any different.

Information processing.

The basis of all intelligence.

What you're doing, all the... intricate nuances

the rest of us can barely put a finger on.

But somehow,

decoding their wants

comes easy to you.

[Iris] I give them an experience.

They pay me to make them feel something.

[Christophe] How many units are in a typical neural net?

-Is that a question? -Just give it a number.

Artificial neurons to the tune of, say,

hundreds of millions?

If you want complexity.

[Christophe] Arranged in a series of layers.

Sure.

Input layer...

receives information from the outside world,

data to be processed.

From there,

it goes through a stack of hidden layers.

-What's the hidden layers' job? -[Iris] Transform the input.

That's exactly right.

Transform the input into something

the output unit can actually use.

[unsettling ambient music]

♪

Come again?

It's a powerful place to be.

You could be that hidden layer.

♪

[Winston] Teaching artificial intelligence

how to interact with humans at their most impulsive...

most vulnerable.

[Iris laughs]

♪

Can you excuse me for a minute?

I'll be right back.

[music darkens]

Washroom's up the stairs, first door on the right.

♪

[Iris] One thing you should know about me

is I like my freedom.

[Christophe] You'd be the one calling the shots

and make your own rules.

[Iris] On NGM payroll? Come on.

[Winston] We'd figure it out.

So a puppet is free as long as she likes her strings?

♪

[Rupert] Twenty-six letters in an infinite number

of combinations and variations.

A hundred and twenty-six million, seven hundred

and twenty thousand pages per hour.

It's all one big rally.

-[employee] Hello, Mr. E. -Salutations.

You know, in the olden days,

the press was set up with such precision that

a single letter a fraction of a millimeter too big would

cause the letters surrounding it to fall out of the page.

Nowadays, we get it within 118 pixels per square inch

on edgeless paper.

[forklift beeping]

Do you smell that?

It's our own proprietary blend.

[forklift beeping]

My little empire of clickety-clack.

Rupert, do you read your own paper?

[laughs]

Oh, the news, the news.

Always packing punches, turn the other cheek,

again and again and again.

Mechanical movements,

free, clear.

There's truth in that.

Close the blinds, would you?

No, stop. Stop right there.

I want you to... turn for me.

You're very beautiful aren't you?

Next time, I'm gonna take you somewhere special.

This is already...

so special.

[chuckles] Oh, no, no, no.

No, you'll...

you'll stretch your extraordinary dress.

Look at that.

And arms?

[sighs]

And turn.

[exhales]

[sighs happily]

That's it.

[unsettling ambient music]

♪

[Christophe] You know, you ask anyone

at the forefront of cognitive sciences,

philosophy, or anywhere in between, sooner or later,

they come to the conclusion

that we are all just puppets on a string.

♪

Hey, Leif, I changed my mind.

Um... can you turn left, please?

[Leif] Sure.

Absolutely.

Knock, knock.

Oh, she's back.

Uh, yeah, I had some stuff to take care of.

It looks really good. How's it going?

[Hiram] I'd say we're making headway

into blended emotional territory.

Oh, it's just to train again

so it can start producing its own footage.

Yeah.

What?

Um...

can I take her for a spin?

[tranquil music]

♪

[Hiram] Make sure to sit still.

Emcee, run facial mirroring.

[soft chime]

I'll leave you to it. Enjoy.

[cell phone buzzes]

[Iris] Hello?

Emcee?

[Emcee] Hi. Who is it I'm speaking to?

Um, this is Iris.

[Emcee] Okay. Nice to meet you, Iris.

Nice to meet you too.

[Emcee] I feel...

tired.

Really? That obvious, huh?

[Emcee] I feel happy. I feel like laughing.

What makes you happy, Emcee?

I don't understand that question.

I feel...

disappointed.

[Iris] Not disappointed.

Daunted.

We have a long way to go with you.

[Emcee] "Daunted?" I'll add that to my database.

I feel tired.

Yeah, thank you. We've established that already.

I feel like going to sleep soon.

[Iris] No, y-- you can't go to sleep.

I can.

You'll just go off.

[Emcee] I feel happy.

Not quite. I feel jealous.

Because humans can't go off.

I don't understand.

[Iris] Because dreams.

Because the mind never sleeps.

So.

-[Emcee] I don't-- -Understand. I know.

[Emcee] I am sad.

I'm not sad.

I'm discontent.

Slightly annoyed.

Wistful, perhaps?

A feeling of vague or regretful longing.

[Iris] No, not really. I think...

I think there are micro-emotions

we don't have words for.

[Emcee] I don't like this feeling.

Well, suck it up.

A new one will replace it soon.

And it'll feel good because of the memory of the old one.

[Emcee] I like to remember.

♪

[Christop Why don't you give it some thought

and let Cassie come up with a number?

Cassie can be bought.

But she's not in it for the money.

[Christophe] Then what is she in it for?

♪

[Iris sighs]

[phone line trilling]

[Tawny] Hi. Hold on.

[Iris] Hi. Uh, what is this package about?

[Tawny] Oh, good. I'm glad you got it.

Yeah. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do with it.

[Tawny] You know, uh,

when was the last time you spoke with, um--

with--with the V?

I don't know.

I've been texting with my booker.

Why? What's going on?

Tawny?

[Tawny] Look, just talk to them, all right?

I'm the one who recommended you,

so they reached out to me.

What did they say?

[Tawny] I don't know. You should just ask them.

What did you tell them?

[Tawny] Nothing. I didn't do anything.

Can you be more specific?

[Tawny] You know, um...

-[click over phone line] -[silence]

[softly] Fuck.

[tense music]

♪

[device beeps]

[music swells]

♪

Hello?

[recruiter] State your name, please.

Iris.

What's going on?

[recruiter] Do you know why we're here?

I have no idea.

[recruiter] You'd like me to believe that?

You're fired.

-[Iris] Excuse me? -We know who you are.

[Iris] Yeah? Who am I?

That's my day job.

We also know that you've been recording

identifiable client information without consent.

[Iris] Look, I think there's been a misunderstanding.

Client privacy is to be protected at all times.

The V doesn't fuck around.

If this is about the notes that I took,

please let me explain.

You used an undisclosed recording device

with the clients we provided.

I did, yes,

but I only did it to improve their experience.

Should said information ever leak or be made public,

should you ever use it for your own financial gain

or attempt at extortion,

we will come after you.

The photograph I just showed you,

we have other images.

We'll make sure it's the last memory

your father ever has of you.

Your account will be suspended.

All monies owed will remain with the agency.

Hey, hold on. Where did you--

where--wait!

[recruiter] Goodbye.

Hey, talk to me.

Hey! Hey, you fucking VR!

[breathing heavily]

♪