Communications of the ACM

The strangest part of Matthew Helderman's video call came when he bit into an apple.

Or rather, what followed.

"What kind of apple is that?" asked the 23-year-old with blunt bangs and big brown eyes peering at him through his laptop screen.

Helderman, the chief executive of BondIt Media Capital, was meeting with the leading lady of "b," the $70 million sci-fi film his company is backing.

Only the actress, Erica, was not, in fact, a woman but an android. Though her curious eyes were trained on Helderman's face, the giveaway was a faint whirring when she rose from her chair.