This stuff is so much easier to understand by anyone with even a modicum of understanding how computers/networks/databases work.
But in a world where we actually believe balloons are aliens of course people will think this is just the beta version of C3PO and that computers can think now.
Fundamentally, it works the same way it always has since Dr. Sbaitso on DOS: a lot of "if A, then B" instructions, now attached to a massive database (the Internet). There's been no breakthrough that gave computers the ability to make judgements based on any kind of sense or reason. We've trained them to use English correctly while patching together info from the net. It IS extremely impressive but it's not Cortana.