The eerie ‘parallel present’ of Channel 4’s Humans series is seeping into our world a little bit more, as it’s been announced that a ‘synth test’ is being released – here in the real world – across Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices.

This inventive advertising campaign makes Channel 4 the first UK broadcaster to use smart home devices as part of a promotional campaign. Inspired by The Turing Test (which is used to quiz artificial intelligence systems), Channel 4’s snazzy new project will ask you questions and – based on your answers – discern if you are a human or a ‘synth’. Synths, of course, are the super-smart androids at the heart of the Humans narrative. 

This promotional video explains everything you need to know about Channel 4’s project, which has been dubbed ‘The Human Test’:

To access the test and try your luck, you have to tell an Alexa to “Start human test”, or, if you have a Google Assistant, you have to say, “Talk to Human Test.” The test is also available on smartphones, so if you don’t have a smart home device, you can still take part.

Undeniably, this is one of the coolest marketing campaigns we’ve seen in recent years. The marketing department for Blade Runner 2049, which featured a reference to the first film’s famous Voight Kampff Test scene, missed a trick by not doing something like this for their project.

Humans returns to Channel 4 for its third season later this month.