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The 24 Best Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now

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The 24 Best Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now


In Recent years, Netflix and Apple TV+ have been duking it out to have the most prestigious film offerings, but some of the best movies are on Amazon Prime Video. The streamer was one of the first to go around picking up film festival darlings and other lovable favorites, and those movies are all still there in the library, so if they flew under your radar the first time, now is the perfect time to catch up.

Our picks for the best movies on Amazon Prime are below. All the films in our guide are included in your Prime subscription—no renting here. Once you’ve watched your fill, check out our lists for the best shows on Netflix and best movies on Disney+ if you’re looking for something else to watch. We also have a guide to the best shows on Amazon, if that’s what you’re in the mood for.

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Knives Out

The debut outing of Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) finds the master detective investigating the suspicious death of famed crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer). It’s a case complicated by the deceased’s expansive, dysfunctional family, all of whom appear to have a motive for killing their supposedly-beloved patriarch. Boasting a murderers’ row of acting talent, including Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, and Ana de Armas as Thrombey’s attentive nurse Marta—director Rian Johnson’s Knives Out remains a masterful modern updating of the classic whodunit, packed full of meta twists that almost single-handedly reenergized the genre.

Air

Sure, nowadays Michael Jordan is a bona fide sports god, and Nike Air Jordans are still arguably the cool sneaker—but that wasn’t the case back in 1984. Jordan was a rookie, and Nike was about to close down its basketball shoe division. Enter Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon), a talent scout for the footwear maker who’s spotted a rising star in North Carolina who could turn everything around—he just needs to convince everyone else that Jordan is worth betting the company on. We all know how that panned out, so thankfully Air is more than a two-hour advert for gym shoes. Damon, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, and director Ben Affleck all deliver strong performances—only to be utterly eclipsed by Viola Davis in a magnetic and powerful, if somewhat under-utilized, turn as matriarch Deloris Jordan—while Alex Convery’s script keeps the drama on the people and personalities involved, rather than the boardroom. In an age of franchises and endless blockbusters, Air is the sort of character-focused film that rarely gets made anymore, and is all the more enjoyable for it.

American Fiction

Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) is a successful professor of literature, but a struggling author, his books constantly rejected for not being “Black enough.” After seeing fellow novelist Sintara Golden (Issa Rae) lauded for her pandering, stereotypical work, Monk pseudonymously pens a novel filled with every lazy trope and cliché he can imagine to lampoon the situation—but is horrified when it becomes an instant success. As a massive advance turns into a multimillion-dollar movie deal, Monk spirals as everyone from the public to his own family seems to love the deliberately offensive work. Based on Percival Everett’s novel Erasure, American Fiction is a darkly satirical work with a wicked sense of humor—an all-too-rare modern comedy with something to say, fronted by one of the finest performances of Wright’s career.

Heads of State

Grumpy British prime minister Sam Clarke (Idris Elba) and action-movie star turned US President Will Derringer (John Cena) can’t stand each other—so teaming up to survive after Air Force One is shot down over the Belarusian wilderness is going to put a real strain on the Special Relationship. Luckily for viewers, though, it also makes for one of the most hilarious and brilliantly choreographed action comedies in years. Priyanka Chopra Jonas is astounding as hard-nosed senior MI6 agent Noel Bisset, out to protect the combative world leaders from each other as much as a mounting terrorist threat, but it’s the spiky chemistry between the leads that really carries the film. Cena is so perfectly obnoxious throughout that you can’t help but feel Elba might actually hate him. A throwback of an action flick in the best way.

Deep Cover

When London police detective Billings (Sean Bean) hits a brick wall infiltrating criminal organizations, he turns to the only people he can trust: struggling improv actors. This ludicrous concept is played for maximum laughs by Bryce Dallas Howard as Kat, a comedian desperate for her big break, and Orlando Bloom as the intractably method-acting Marlon. But it’s Ted Lasso‘s Nick Mohammed who steals every scene as meek and awkward Hugh—an IT nerd who can’t act but “yes, ands … ” every increasingly farcical scenario the trio find themselves in. A bizarre blend of slapstick and Guy Ritchie-esque grit, Deep Cover fully commits.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

One of the absolute wildest films you’ve probably never seen, 1984’s The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai is … almost impossible to describe. Centered on Peter Weller’s Dr. Buckaroo Banzai—a super-genius physicist, skilled neurosurgeon, high-flying test pilot, and beloved rock star—the film follows his battle with the evil Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow) over the advanced “oscillation overthruster” that allows travel between dimensions. It’s so much stranger than that though. Expect alien invaders, identical twins of long-lost lovers, Orville Welles, and mid-1980s nuclear war paranoia, and that’s just scratching the surface. The highest of high concept sci-fi flicks, it absolutely bombed on release (despite a phenomenal cast including Jeff Goldblum and Christopher Lloyd) but has since more than earned its standing as a cult favorite. Even Weller himself can’t explain the film, but it is undeniably an experience.

Conclave

Arriving on Prime Video with divine timing, this parable of the election of a new pope makes for powerful viewing. When the pope passes, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) starts the process of hosting the papal conclave to choose his successor—but given that the supreme pontiff is one of the most powerful positions on Earth, the election makes for anything but dry Catholic procedure. As the choice narrows to four candidates, and no one is allowed in or out until a new pope is elected, tension mounts while power plays, blackmail, and long-buried secrets rock the Holy See. Based on the novel by Robert Harris and directed by Edward Berger (2022’s All Quiet on the Western Front), Conclave is a meticulously researched and exquisitely shot drama, driven by magnetic performances from a cast including Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini.

Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time

Fair warning: As the culmination of 15 years of work for creator and director Hideaki Anno, and serving as a follow-up to his classic 1995 TV anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, this is hardly what you’d call a jumping on point for the notoriously complex mecha franchise. (Thankfully, Prime Video has the whole movie saga available, starting with Evangelion 1.11.) Nevertheless, snagging the international rights for this long-awaited film from Japan’s Studio Khara was a genuine coup for Amazon. Thrice Upon a Time brings to a close the decades-long tale of traumatized teenage robot pilots forced to fight biblically accurate angels—and worse, the twisted machinations of lead character Shinji’s abusive father, Gendo. With bewilderingly beautiful animation, plenty of emotional clout, and an ending that surprised even longtime fans, this is a textbook example of how to send a series out with a bang.

Challengers

Directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name), Challengers follows the complicated three-way relationship between tennis aces Tashi (Zendaya), Patrick (Josh O’Connor), and Art (Mike Faist). Told nonlinearly, it volleys between the trio’s disaffected present and their more optimistic, exciting past. It’s an energetic and inventively shot sports movie, but the real match tension is in how the promise of Grand Slam glory (and no shortage of raging hormones—it is a Guadagnino film, after all) in the trio’s youth lead to choices that ricochet into the present. Tashi has been forced to abandon the court after a horrific injury, her now-husband Art is stuck in a competitive rut, and Patrick hustles low-stakes games to get by—but none of them have really moved on.

My Old Ass

The unstoppable rise of Aubrey Plaza continues in this smart, modern take on the coming-of-age dramedy. Written and directed by The Fallout’s Megan Park, My Old Ass follows 18-year old Elliott (Maisy Stella) who, on the cusp of college and major life changes, celebrates her birthday by taking mushrooms with her friends. Mid-trip, she meets … Elliott, age 39 (Plaza). It’s when she’s sobered up that things get really trippy, though. Elliott starts receiving text messages from the future—warning her to avoid a boy named Chad. Equal parts hopeful and melancholic, and with powerful performances from both actors playing an Elliott, this film beautifully captures the messy, joyful potential of youth and the nagging, wistful “what ifs?” that come with age. A delight however old you are.

Brittany Runs a Marathon

When Brittany (Jillian Bell) is told by her doctor to lose weight, she uses it as a reason to take control of her life. She starts by putting on a pair of trainers and challenging herself to run one block, which quickly escalates into deciding to run the New York City Marathon. First-time director Paul Downs Colaizzo based the story on the experiences of his friend, and highlights not only the benefits of running but also the pain. This film shows that no matter how bad things get, you can still get back up.

The Idea of You

The best rom-coms tend to succeed thanks to how unrealistic they are—the improbable meet-cute, the heightened emotions, the exaggerated gestures of affection, the dizzying spin of falling head over heels for someone. It’s something The Idea of You perfectly nails as it charts the relationship between successful gallery owner Solène Marchand (Anne Hathaway) and global music superstar Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine)—who also happens to be 16 years her junior. It could so easily have been cheap scandal fodder—and that’s how it’s played in-universe when the paparazzi get wind of Hayes’ relationship with the “older woman”—but as the pair embark on a globe-trotting romance, the charismatic leads serve up enough genuine chemistry to sweep the audience up in the whirlwind of it all. It’s ultimately less “will they, won’t they?” and more “should they, shouldn’t they?” thanks to a well-handled awareness of the age gap (already narrowed from the source novel by Robinne Lee), but for fans of the genre, it’s a delight.

Saltburn

Oxford student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) is having trouble fitting in at the prestigious British university—until he befriends the popular Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). Handsome, rich, and born to the landed gentry, Felix brings the awkward, socially invisible Oliver into his circle, eventually inviting him to spend summer at the family estate, Saltburn. But as Oliver works his way into the family’s graces, his obsession with Felix takes increasingly dark and deranged turns. Oscillating between black comedy and psychological thriller, writer and director Emerald Fennel (Promising Young Woman) frames the film in 4:3 aspect ratio for a tighter, almost voyeuristic viewing experience that makes its frequently unsettling moments even more uncomfortable. Having attracted plenty of debate since its 2023 release—not least for how it questionably navigates its themes of class and social inclusion—Saltburn was one of the year’s most divisive films, but one that demands your attention.

The Burial

Courtroom dramas are rarely laugh riots, but this tale of funeral home director Jeremiah O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) and his flashy lawyer Willie Gary (Jamie Foxx) taking on a major player in America’s “death care” system brings a dark sense of humor to already grim proceedings. This is no comedy though. Based on true events, director Maggie Betts’ (The Novitiate) latest drama retells a real-life legal case that exposed massive inequality in funereal care and the way Black communities were being regularly overcharged. Foxx and Jones are in top form throughout, but it’s Jurnee Smollett as Mame Downes, Gary’s rival attorney who threatens to outpace him at every turn, whose performance threatens to steal the whole movie. For a film about death, The Burial proves warmly life-affirming.

A Million Miles Away

Charting the life of José Hernández, this biopic—based on Hernández’s own book—mixes the aspirational with the inspirational as it follows its central figure’s rise from, in his own words, migrant farm worker to the first Mexican-American astronaut. Michael Peña is in fine form as Hernández, painting a picture of a man almost myopically driven to reach space, no matter the cost, while Rosa Salazar impresses as his wife Adela, refusing to fade into the background even as she puts her own dreams on pause for José to chase the stars. In lesser hands, this could all be cloying—a twee tale of hard work and achieving the American Dream, with a dash of NASA promo material on the side, but director Alejandra Márquez Abella has her lens as focused on the small beauties of life here on Earth as the splendor and sheer potential of space. A rare delight.

Red, White, and Royal Blue

Look, this is clearly a “best film” by a highly specific metric—and that metric is “gloriously cheesy trash.” Adapted from Casey McQuinston’s best-selling novel, this intercontinental rom-com charts the relationship between First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez) and Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine), the “spare” to the British throne, going from rivals through to grudging respect, and ultimately groundbreaking romance. It’s often ludicrous, including an inciting incident seeing the pair falling into a wedding cake, a tabloid-worthy tryst in a hotel room, and political intrigue surrounding Alex’s mother, President Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman, vamping scenes with a bizarre “Texan” accent), but it’s all just irresistibly wholesome and upbeat. Red, White, and Royal Blue is the movie equivalent of pizza—not good for you, but still delicious.

Shin Masked Rider

If you’re sick of cookie-cutter Hollywood superhero movies, then this ground-up reboot of one of Japan’s most beloved heroes deserves your attention. Helmed by Hideaki Anno (Evangelion, Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman—“shin” meaning “new” or “true” in Japanese), this revamps the 1971 TV series Kamen Rider. Like that show, it follows motorcyclist Takeshi Hongo (Sosuke Ikematsu). Kidnapped by the terrorist organization S.H.O.C.K.E.R. and forcibly converted into a powerful cyborg, Hongo escapes before being reprogrammed as an agent of the group, instead using his newfound powers to take down its forces. However, unlike the original, Anno’s approach taps into the body horror of the core concept, while also challenging his characters—and audience—to hang onto their intrinsic humanity in the face of a world trying to dehumanize them. It’s more violent than you’d probably expect, often showing the grisly outcome of regular people getting punched by superpowered cyborgs and monsters, but never gratuitous. While those with some understanding of the source material will get more out of Shin Masked Rider, it’s an exciting outing for anyone looking for something a bit fresher from their hero movies.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Kazakh” TV reporter (even if he speaks Hebrew) travels back to the US, 14 years after his last feature-long escapade. This time Baron Cohen has brought his (Bulgarian-speaking) teenage daughter along, with the mission of giving her “as a gift” to some powerful American politicians—initially Mike Pence, then Rudy Giuliani. In classic Boratic fashion, the mockumentary follows the wacky duo on a cavalcade across Trump’s America, filming candid performances by unsuspecting characters ranging from QAnon believers to Republican activists to prim debutantes, all the way to Giuliani himself. Even the coronavirus pandemic, which struck America as the film was being shot, is subverted as a comedic plot point. Baron Cohen delivers, with the expected repertoire of shock gags and deadpanned verbal enormities, and he manages to land some punches at the expense of bigots. In contrast to its 2006 predecessor, many of the pranks and stunts here seem more aimed at eliciting the audience’s nervous laughter than at exposing America’s heart of darkness, but it remains a worthy—and funny—watch.

Nanny

Aisha (Anna Diop) is a Senegalese woman working as a nanny for a rich couple in New York City, hoping to earn enough to bring her son and cousin to join her in America. However, her future is at the mercy of her employers, who seem content to leave Aisha to raise their daughter, Rose, while often withholding her pay. As the stress of the power imbalance weighs on her, Aisha begins having strange dreams of drowning, worsened by her fears of abandoning her own child. The feature debut of director Nikyatu Jusu, Nanny contrasts the horror of the immigrant experience in modern America with something darker, while swapping the expected tropes of hope and opportunity for a palpable sadness for culture and community left behind. Nanny takes a slow-burn, psychological approach to its scares, but Diop is phenomenal throughout, and the meticulous pacing and gorgeous cinematography means every frame lingers.

Coming 2 America

Relying on nostalgia to carry new entries in long-dormant series can be risky business, but Eddie Murphy’s return to the role of Prince—now King—Akeem of Zamunda more than three decades after 1988’s Coming to America shows how to do it right. Drawn back to the US in search of a son he never knew he had, Akeem—and the audience—gets to reunite with familiar faces from the first film, before director Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow) reverses the formula and tests the American characters with a trip to Zamunda. With a sharper, smarter, and more globally aware script than the original, Coming 2 America defies the odds to be a comedy sequel that stands up to the reputation of its predecessor.

Thirteen Lives

Director Ron Howard’s latest gathers a top-notch cast—including Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, and Joel Edgerton—for a dramatization of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue, where a Thai junior soccer team and their assistant coach were trapped in the flooded cave system. As an international effort mounts to save the children, the challenges of navigating miles of underwater caverns become ever more dangerous, and Howard masterfully captures every perilously claustrophobic moment of it. A nail-bitingly tense movie with some ingeniously shot aquatic scenes, Thirteen Lives is a testament to one of the most difficult rescues ever performed.

One Night in Miami …

Based on the play of same name, One Night in Miami follows four icons of culture, music, and sports—Malcolm X, Jim Brown, Sam Cooke, and Muhammad Ali—at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, a converging and pivotal point in their lives and careers. Meeting in a motel room in the wake of Ali’s—then still Cassius Clay—heavyweight victory over Sonny Liston in 1964, the four men discuss their roles in the movement and society as a whole, all while the audience knows the weight of history is bearing down on them. The close confines of much of the film reflect its theatrical roots, but this feature directorial debut from Regina King perfectly portrays the larger-than-life personalities of its cast. Kingsley Ben-Adir is on fire as Malcolm X, with Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr., and Eli Goree—as Brown, Cooke, and Ali—all utterly magnetic.

The Report

Produced by Amazon, The Report is an engrossing depiction of the US Senate’s investigation into the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program—how it came to be, who knew about it, and how the CIA massaged the facts to support its efficacy. Adam Driver stars as Daniel Jones, the lead investigator who plowed an increasingly lonely path to the truth, battling against political resistance and CIA interference all the way. Driver is, as is his habit these days, superb, and the film’s 82 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes is well earned.

Sound of Metal

Punk-rock drummer and recovering addict Ruben starts experiencing hearing loss, and it threatens to upend his entire life. Faced with an impossible choice between giving up his hearing or giving up his career, Ruben begins to spiral, until his girlfriend Lou checks him into a rehab center for the deaf, forcing him to confront his own behavior as much as the future he faces. Riz Ahmed is in spectacular form as the troubled Ruben, while Olivia Cooke’s turn as Lou, who suffers with her own demons, including self-harm, is riveting. Fittingly enough, Sound of Metal also features incredibly nuanced use of sound—and its absence—as director Darius Marder crafts one of the finest dramas in recent years.



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Smart Home Deals and Half-Off Tools at the Home Depot

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2 hours ago

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November 12, 2025

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Smart Home Deals and Half-Off Tools at the Home Depot


Apparently, it’s always Friday at the Home Depot. Or at least, the Home Depot Black Friday deals have slipped all customary bounds of the calendar: Online deals started November 5 and will go all the way to December 3.

This includes some very steep discounts on flagship tool brands like Milwaukee, Ryobi, and DeWalt tools—by which I mean half-off and buy-one-get-one steep. Seemingly half the store is on sale. But here’s an early look at some of the best deals to look out for as Black Friday rings in early.

Discounts on Google Nest and Other Smart Home Devices

A couple of WIRED’s top-tested smart home devices from Google Nest have significant discounts at Home Depot right now, alongside discounts on a mess of smart home devices from Echo, Eufy, and others.

Photograph: Nena Farrell

Google

Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Generation)

The newest Nest Learning Thermostat is a genuine blockbuster device in its category, and the Home Depot is selling it for the lowest price I can find at any retailer right now. The Nest is pretty on the eyes and has no trouble with disconnections or irregularities in the temperature readout, which are surprisingly common among smart home thermostats. It also offers a bunch of fun features, including a readout that changes depending on your proximity to the device. Even better, the Nest thermostat comes with an external temperature sensor that lets you prioritize the readings in a specific room (or part of a room). This allowed WIRED reviewer Nena Farrell to tune the device to her toddler’s bedroom to keep it from getting too stuffy. The larger screen size is also a noticeable upgrade from previous generations, she noted.

  • Photograph: Simon Hill

  • Photograph: Simon Hill

  • Photograph: Simon Hill

Google

Nest Cam Outdoor 2K (Wired, 2nd Gen)

The Nest Cam Outdoor 2K requires a little installation, sure: You’ll need to screw in the mount and run a cable. But the cam offers 2K video quality and two-way audio, and doesn’t waste your time with a string of ambiguous notifications like a lot of outdoor cameras: It can accurately detect people, animals, and vehicles. The camera offers sharp video with a 152-degree field of view. It’s the wired outdoor cam that WIRED reviewer Simon Hill recommends above all others—but note that while notifications and live feed don’t require a subscription, you’ll need a $10- or $20-a-month subscription to access more advanced features that include detection of Familiar Faces and 30 to 60 days of video history. Anyway, it’s 20 percent off for Black Friday at the Home Depot, alongside sales on a whole host of other smart home devices.

Buy-One-Get-One Deals on DeWalt Tools

A few tools from home improvement staple DeWalt are on sale for buy-one-get-one at the moment. It’s a bit tough to sort out on the Home Depot’s site, but essentially you’ve got a mix and match of a few select DeWalt tools.

Buy one, and any of the other tools is free. This includes the 13-Inch Cordless String Trimmer ($139), the 20V Cordless Leaf Blower ($179), the 20V MAX XR Cordless Brushless Jigsaw ($239), and the 20V MAX Cordless Brushless Circular Saw ($229)

Aside from that BOGO deal, you can get a free DeWalt tool with the purchase of a battery, or a free DeWalt battery with the purchase of a tool, as detailed here. Or, kinda most of the rest of the DeWalt toolkit is on sale this month for somewhere between 20 percent and 50 percent off. It’s not the steepest discount on the list, but might I suggest WIRED’s absolute favorite drill and driver kit, on sale now for $50 off?

DeWalt cordless drill set and bag

Photograph: Home Depot

DeWalt

20V Max 1/2-Inch Cordless Drill

The Home Depot Milwaukee Tools for 50 Percent Off

During the Home Depot’s month-long Black Friday sale, you can also opt to go with buy-one-get-one or 50-percent-off deals on a number of Milwaukee tools. WIRED Reviewer Scott Gilbertson is already on record as loving the Milwaukee Tool ecosystem as a smart investment—to make use of Milwaukee’s excellent battery tech. He now owns dozens, from impact guns to circular saws and a drywall screw gun.

Anyway, the most essential tool in the kit, Milwaukee’s M18 Fuel Brushless Cordless Hex Impact Driver ($179), is on a buy-one-get-one sale alongside other select Milwaukee tools as part of a buy-one-get-one deal that also includes Milwaukee’s brushless cordless grinder ($229) and cordless personal inflator ($199). Other tools include free batteries with select tools, or vice versa.

It’s not always easy when browsing the general site to see which tools are on the BOGO deal, but click the button below and take note of the tools marked “Free With Purchase.”

Buy-One-Get-One Makita, Ryobi, and Ridgid Tools

Once you’ve bought into a tool ecosystem, it’s kinda part of your life now: You’ve chosen a battery pack that will power a whole world of powered implements. Different WIRED staffers have their own preferences. For WIRED reviewers Julian Chokkattu and Pete Cottell both, their personal world is Makita. And Makita is one of the brands with a killer buy-one-get-one at the moment: Just buy one of the Makita tools here and you can select either a free battery pack, or a freebie among seven other Makita tools in the $200 range.

WIRED has not tested all these tools, but Ryobi has a similar deal, on its affordable tool sets, with a BOGO deal on multiple tools and batteries, including an 18-volt, oscillating, sanding, and cutting multitool ($79) for wall and panel work, and an impact wrench ($99).

Ridgid has a similar deal, with a different product set. Ridgid tool bundles with batteries are up to 60 percent off, especially a cordless blower deal with a battery starter kit for more than half off.

Ridgid

18V Brushless Cordless Battery Leaf Blower with Battery and Charger

Free Christmas Tree Delivery

I remember two things about Christmas-tree shopping as a kid, which was always the best and the worst day. Picking out the tree was, of course, plenty exciting. But then you had to load it. And you had to move it, after wrangling it into a pickup truck. Then you had to unload it, and get it into the house. By the time you’re clear of all that, you might as well just forget Christmas spirit.

Well, the internet is a many-splendored thing. The Home Depot is offering free delivery on Christmas trees during Black Friday, on anything from artificial trees (here’s the best-seller right now) to fresh-cut fir, which is already coming into stock but only from online-only vendors. (Or, if you’d rather, check out WIRED’s roundup of the best artificial Christmas trees, as tested by professionals.

Artificial trees or real ones show up at your doorstep at no additional charge, no pickup truck required. Because we already live in the future.

Power up with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting that’s too important to ignore. Includes unlimited digital access and exclusive subscriber-only content. Subscribe Today.



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My Robot Vacuum Is My Only Friend

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3 hours ago

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November 12, 2025

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My Robot Vacuum Is My Only Friend


Every single day—weekend, weekday, rain or shine—whichever robot vacuum I’m currently testing starts running at 9 am. It’s always a good sign. I heave a sigh of relief and continue with whatever else I was doing, content that at least that f*cking chore in my house is getting done.

When I first started testing robot vacuums eight years ago, it sometimes seemed like more trouble than it was worth. I cleaned up the floor. I meticulously maintained the different sensors. Now I just don’t care. (I mean, yes, I do care, robot vacuum manufacturers, I just care slightly less.) Even if it gets tripped up on my daughter’s latest knitting project, or it can’t mop the kitchen because I haven’t emptied the water tank. Just go, little soldier, go.

Robot vacuums are so much smarter now. They can navigate through many more surprising minefields of Lego bricks, stuffed animals, or piles of shoes than you might have expected even two or three years ago. As a working parent with two elementary-school-aged kids and a dog, I need all the help I can get. Maybe it will clean the whole house; maybe it will only clean up 50 or 65 percent of it. But as someone who is constantly fighting chaos, consistency is what counts.

It’s a Miss

Photograph: Amazon

It took a while for me to reach this Zen state (and also to collect enough robot vacuums to have an army running in every room and floor of my house). Based on my years of talking to many families (and trying to foist used robot vacuums on them), these are a few reasons why a robot vacuum might not be worth it for you.

  • You live in a small space. If it only takes you an hour or so to vacuum, why bother?
  • Your home has a complicated layout. A lot of 1970s homes have strange, complicated designs—a sunken living room, a playroom that’s up a few stairs, bedrooms upstairs. Although stair-climbing vacuums are on the way, for now, it’s not worth carrying a vacuum from room to room.
  • You have rugs with weird tassels. The 1970s were bad for robot vacuums. Shag carpeting is also bad, as is a lot of low furniture.
  • You hate maintenance. You really can’t stand emptying the fussy little dust bag or refilling the water container. I’m going to say here that you probably have other problems that need addressing before getting a robot vacuum.

Even I don’t rely solely on a robot vacuum to keep my house clean. I also have a Dyson stick vacuum, a carpet cleaner, and a regular broom and mop in a closet. If my kid spills a bunch of flour under the counter while she’s making pancakes, I’m not going to pull out my phone, open the app, and watch a robot vacuum slowly trundle over to spot-clean it.

It’s also not great for deep-cleaning. No matter how much a company hypes up a robot’s suction power, it will just never be as thorough as even the smallest hand vacuum. It’s just physics. A robot vacuum’s motor and battery are smaller.

Even the best navigation system cannot accommodate everything that happens in a crazy, dynamic environment with a bunch of gremlins and animals running around. If I have people coming over, I still have to walk around and do things like put away cushion forts and pick up the shreds of a log that my dog decided to pluck off the woodpile and bring into the house to gnaw in the warmth and comfort of the living room.



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Your chatbot doesn’t love you: The ‘illusion’ of social AI

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November 12, 2025

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Your chatbot doesn’t love you: The ‘illusion’ of social AI


Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Every day, millions of people talk to chatbots and AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Replika and Gemini, but what kind of “relationships” are we really forming with them?

In a special issue of the journal New Media & Society, Dr. Iliana Depounti (Loughborough University) and Associate Professor Simone Natale (University of Turin) explore the rise of “artificial sociality”—technologies that simulate and without actually possessing them.

Their article, “Decoding Artificial Sociality: Technologies, Dynamics, Implications,” reveals a number of issues associated with the rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI chatbots.

It argues that the illusion of friendship or understanding created by AI is being deliberately cultivated by to increase user engagement, such as Spotify’s “AI DJ” with a friendly human voice and Replika’s “virtual companion” chatbots.

Dr. Depounti said, “Companion generative AI bots such as Replika or Character AI exemplify artificial sociality technologies.

“They are created to foster emotional projection, offering users intimacy and companionship through features like avatars, role-playing, customization and gamification—all with monetary benefits for the companies that design them.

“ChatGPT, too, uses artificial sociality techniques, from referring to itself as ‘I’ to adopting tones of authority, empathy or expertise.

“Though these systems simulate sociality rather than recreate it, their power lies in that simulation—in their ability to engage, persuade and emotionally move millions of users worldwide, raising deep ethical questions.”

The study shows how social cues are engineered into products to keep people interacting longer.

Other issues include:

  • Machines only imitate social behavior, but users still project feelings, trust and empathy onto them.
  • User data and emotional labor are exploited to train and “personalize” AI systems, raising ethical and about hidden human work and massive data-center energy use.
  • Bias and stereotypes in AI systems mirror social inequalities, shaping how gender, class and race are represented in digital conversations.
  • Users adapt to AI “companions” through what researchers call “re-domestication”—renegotiating relationships every time a chatbot’s personality or behavior changes.
  • The line between authenticity and deception is becoming blurred as AI personalities are marketed as “friends,” “co-workers” or even “influencers.”

Dr. Natale said, “Artificial sociality is the new frontier of human–machine communication in our interactions with generative AI technologies.

“These systems don’t feel, but they are designed to make us feel, and that emotional projection has profound social, economic and ethical consequences. Artificial sociality technologies invite and encourage these projections.”

Behind these apparently effortless conversations, the researchers warn, lies a vast infrastructure of human and environmental cost.

AI models rely on huge datasets drawn from people’s online interactions and often from their conversations with the machines themselves.

This data is then used to “train” chatbots to sound more human—sometimes with users unknowingly performing unpaid emotional or linguistic labor.

At the same time, the servers powering generative AI consume enormous amounts of electricity and water.

The authors highlight a $500 billion investment by major tech firms in new data centers to meet AI demand, describing it as part of an “extractive” system that turns into corporate assets.

More information:
Iliana Depounti et al, Decoding Artificial Sociality: Technologies, Dynamics, Implications, New Media & Society (2025). DOI: 10.1177/14614448251359217

Provided by
Loughborough University


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Your chatbot doesn’t love you: The ‘illusion’ of social AI (2025, November 12)
retrieved 12 November 2025
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