Chobits was ahead of its time when it comes to the technological narrative that the anime and manga follow, but it's still incredibly relevant due to the existentialism that society faces as technology slowly takes over. The persocoms in Chobits are basically an embellished version of today's artificial intelligence (AI), with each persocom able to perform tasks for their owners such as housekeeping, browsing the internet, or checking the weather forecast.
Considering this anime was released back in 2002, modern society isn't anywhere close to actually being able to have a product reminiscent of the persocoms. Chobits poses a lot of questions to the viewers though and is one of those shows that make fans sit back as they realize just how powerful technology could become. While Chobits is entirely fictional, it's hard to not notice some crossovers between what AI can do now, especially with voice-activated devices that can play requested songs or check if it's going to rain that day. During the early episodes of Chobits, viewers are greeted with scenes that show just how popular persocoms are for those living in the city of Tokyo. Hideki grew up in a rural area, and once he moves to the bustling city, he suddenly notices just how many persocoms there are. It's almost as if they're a necessity, while also being tied to a sign of wealth and affluence. Hideki instantly feels out of place once he finds out just how much persocoms cost and is convinced that he'll never be able to afford one.
In The Real World
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While persocoms are usually human-sized and extremely realistic, there are also mobile ones available just like Sumomo, the persocom of Shinbo, who is Hideki's neighbor and prep school classmate. Then there are the luxury custom-made persocoms, which are tailored to the owner's precise requirements of how they look, speak and behave. It's not just the physical persocom that needs to be paid for either, as it's revealed during the first episodes that those who own a persocom must also buy different types of software depending on what they want their persocom to do.
It's similar to how members of society these days purchase devices such as Amazon's Alexa and Google Nest. While they clearly can't do as much as a persocom does, there's no denying that they harbor the foundations of what could be a real-life take on a persocom. It's not just specialized devices either, with iPhones having the iconic Siri software included, which not only performs tasks such as finding songs and setting reminders, but it can also tell jokes and talk back to people.
The Realism Of A Persocom
In the romance series, Chobits, persocoms are also seen working inside businesses such as restaurants or stores. This poses the question of, do these businesses need human employees if persocoms exist? Persocoms can be programmed to do a job perfectly down to every little detail and can be custom-made purposely for a certain job role, which could seem much more appealing to an employer.
It's a scary thought, but persocoms could easily take over a plethora of jobs, making human existence in the world of work completely void. There are already businesses that have introduced robotics in factories, and there's even a hotel in Japan that is entirely run by robotic dinosaurs.
The persocoms in Chobits aren't sentient, and can easily short-circuit or be turned off by their owner. While they may look, speak and behave just like a human would, it's important that their owners remember that these robots are programmed to be the way they are. It isn't that simple though in the Chobits universe, as the very word itself is a special kind of persocom. Chobits are described to be persocoms that have their own free will and feel real emotions.
While this was originally thought to be a rumor, the anime and manga delve deeper into the idea of them actually existing. Persocoms that are described as Chobits can also fall in love with humans, including their owners. While persocoms are seen as attractive robots that assist their owners during the day, Chobits are believed to adapt much easier to the world around them, and can easily learn new behaviors and language without desperately requiring specific software.
Persocoms In The Workplace
Robots that can be molded to how their owner wants them to act and speak may seem like a distant thought, but is it closer than people think? While there won't be persocoms walking around Earth any time soon, what's the next step in AI technology and robotics? Technology has already taken over some workplace positions such as factory workers and even self-checkout cash registers, increasing unemployment within certain sectors. In the employer's mind, if a robot can do it, what's the point of hiring and paying for a human? It's a terrifying notion, and while it's often the butt of many jokes about robots taking over the world, Chobits hints at how technology could possibly develop in the future.
It'll certainly be a while before society sees anything similar to a persocom, but there's been engineers and developers working on humanoid robots for years. While these robots can resemble humans to a certain degree, there's still the uncanny valley side to them, especially when it comes to their expressions, mannerisms, and speech patterns. They often conduct experiments when trying to replicate a human's facial expression when showing any kind of emotion, and the movements of a human face while talking.
The big difference between reality and the sci-fi universe of Chobits is that persocoms would be hard to distinguish between robots and humans if it wasn't for their distinct ears, due to their extremely realistic skin and bodies, which act as a glorified computer and operating system (OS).