A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

Work Title: A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Medium: Film
Episode Title:
Year: 2001
Writer(s): Stanley Kubrick
"Original" Writer: Yes Writer(s): Brian Aldiss
"Original" Writer: Yes Own work?: No
Summary:

Set in a futuristic setting, following the melting of the ice caps which has drowned entire U.S. cities (including Manhattan), Professor Hobby (William Hurt) has created a string of mechas--robots with the physical appearance of humans--to live in the world. With all mechas having been made into adults up until this point, Hobby introduces his most life-like creation yet: an 11-year-old boy named David (Haley Joel Osment). Programmed to be able to love (the first of his kind to be able to do such a thing), David is taken in by Monica Swinton (Frances O'Connor) and her husband, Henry (Sam Robards), as a child "substitute" for their own young son, Martin (Jake Thomas), who has been cryogenically frozen while they await a cure for the disease he has. At first creeped out by David, Henry and Monica quickly warm up to him, and in Monica's case, falls in love with what is now her new son. Aside from not being able to eat or sleep, David is exactly like a regular boy, delighting in mimicking and picking up new information, as well as being able to play games. When Martin suddenly awakes from his comatose state and begins to get better, he rejoins his parents' lives, and in the process, David progressively loses the attention and, through a series of circumstances out of his control, made to look potentially dangerous. Forced to get rid of him, but not wanting him destroyed by the company for returning him, Monica drives David into the forest one day, and leaves him there alone, with only a mechanical, talking teddy bear as company. Believing that Monica will love him if only he becomes a real boy, David sets off to find the Blue Fairy from the fairy tale, "Pinocchio," whom he earnestly believes is the only one with the power to grant him his wish. On his journey, he meets a fellow mecha named Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), whose name reveals what he has been programmed to do. Joe is a cynic, but forms a bond with David, and consequently, helps him to accomplish his mission, even if it is a lost cause.

Era/Year of Portrayal: distant_future
Distinctive characteristics of the world in portrayal:

In the first portrayed era of the film, most of the world has been covered with water from the melting of the ice caps. In the second portrayed era, the world is frozen in an ice age. There are androids called "mechas" in abundance, people frozen through cyrogenics and then brought back to be cured of illness, and unusually shaped vehicles.

Technology

  • Name of portrayed presence-evoking technology: The androids are called "mechas."
  • Description of the technology: "Mechas" are computers that look and act like people.
  • Nature of task or activity: People use "mechas" for companionship, labor, entertainment, sex, etc.
  • Performance of the Technology: The primary "mecha" in this story, David, is accused of attempting to hurt the "real" son, Martin, of his adopted parents, Monica and Henry, and therefore is sent away to be destroyed. The technology, however, is misunderstood and in fact continues to love its adoptive parents as it was programmed to love them.
  • Description of creator(s): The creator, a scientist named Professor Hobby, is a white male in his 40s to 50s. Others who worked with Professor Hobby are predominantly white, predominantly male, and in their 30s to 50s.
  • Major goal(s) of creator(s): The major goal of the creator of the mechas is to assist the world and make it more efficient without the need for "orgas" or humans that consume parts of the world. The major goal of creating the mecha boy David that was able to love was to attempt to replicate the human emotion of love in a mecha and to provide humans with love from a mecha.
  • Description of users of technology: Monica and Henry, the human parents, and Martin, the human son, experience presence as they interact with their mecha David. The mother, Monica, is at first very reluctant to receive the mecha boy. Then she becomes more attached to him than does her husband. The human boy, Martin, was at first frozen through cyrogenics because of illness and then revived and cured but somewhat frail and bitter.
  • Type(s) of presence experience in the portrayal: social_presence
  • Description of presence experience: Medium as social actor. The parents, the human son, the creator, and other human characters often engage in communication with the mechas as though they were human rather than machines.
  • User awareness of technology during experience: There are times when the parents, the human son, the creator, and other human characters lose themselves in the experience of communicating with the mecha David. The characters are more aware David is a technology before he is coded with the capacity to love. Once he is able to love, the mother Monica and the creator Professor Hobby treat his as though he were human.
  • Valence of experience: The human son, Martin, is resentful of the mecha David. The father, Henry, is at first suspicious and then very afraid of the mecha. The mother, Monica, is at first suspicious of and then loving toward and devoted to David. The creator, Professor Hobby, remains loving toward David throughout. Groups of anti-technology human characters are violently against mechas overall and destroy them routinely in an open arena. These masses, however, were fooled by David because of his emotional characteristics and therefore turned against the human character attempting to destroy David in the open arena.
  • Specific responses: The human son Martin and other young humans are consistently suspicious of the mecha David and attempt to persuade him to hurt himself or others. The creator, Professor Hobby, and the mother, Monica, embrace the mecha David and express sadness through tears at the mecha's presumed pain and happiness through laughter at his presumed happiness.
Long-term consequences:

The story ends at first in desperation and ultimately in love. The mecha David is outcast by his mother and other humans because humans misread his actions as dangerous. David is left in a forest to fend for himself with the company of a robotic teddy bear. The two meet up with another mecha, Gigolo Joe, and search for the Blue Fairy from Pinnochio who David hopes will turn him into a real boy that his mother and other humans can love and accept. David follows his dream into the depths of the ocean, only to remain their awaiting the Blue Fairy's action for 2,000 years as the world freezes over. A new species of what might be robotic beings saves David and his robotic bear and are successful at bringing his human mother back to life for one day of shared love between them. David's life feels complete as he is able to feel love and be loved.

Other:

Coder name: Melissa Selverian
Coder email: melissaselverian@comcast.net
Coder affiliation: Temple University