If you'll recall, the movie HAL carried on conversations in natural language, monitored the spaceship and communications from Earth and notified the crew about important events just at the right time. HAL could also make decisions, prioritize and learn.

The Pentagon's project was called CALO, for Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes. The five-year program enlisted more than 300 researchers from at least two-dozen universities. This massive effort was organized by a brilliant guy named Adam Cheyer, who served as the project's chief architect.

Guess what HAL's chief architect does now? as director of engineering for the . Apple "acquired" Cheyer when it bought the company he co-founded, Siri Inc.

And Cheyer is still building HAL. The only difference is that HAL will live in your iPhone.

If you've got an iPhone, you can download Siri's "virtual personal assistant" app free of charge. To use it, you just talk to the app. Say you want to make a restaurant reservation. Siri will intelligently suggest a few based on your location and preferences. When you pick one, Siri will make the reservation for you.