Instead of trying to produce a programme to simulate the adult mind, why not rather try to produce one which simulates the child’s? If this were then subjected to an appropriate course of education one would obtain the adult brain.- Alan Turing
What is Artificial Intelligence?
While the definition for this is quite vast, if one could put it in a rather Wiki form, it is computers trying to understand the human intelligence. In other words, A.I is the next level in robotics. Where robots merely do tasks, that they are assigned to do, A.I. looks at the scenario, where the computers think like human beings, take decisions and then act. Many books and movies have come about in the past, exploring this concept, of a machine that employs human intelligence to do an action.
Now if a machine can be programed to think like a human being, to what extent can it go? Does a machine that is programmed to think intelligently also respond to human emotions? And can a human being feel the same emotion to a robot, which is programmed to think and feel? No easy answers here, because intelligence and emotion, are subjective factors, not really prone to reason. Traditionally books and movies, have looked at this aspect in a rather pessimistic light, seeing it more as a danger. Be it the creature in Frankenstein( one of the earliest sci fi novels) who turns upon his creator, or the machine HAL in 2001:A Space Odyssey which turns malevolent, the underlying feeling is that giving emotions and intelligence to a robot is always fraught with risks.
The movie starts off somewhere in the near future, where icecaps have melted, most of the poorer nations have been devasated, while people in the richer nations lead a rather cut off existence, using robots for their own needs. David( Haley Joel Osment) is a mecha, an advanced form of humanoid who can feel and respond to human emotions. David is adopted by a couple Henry(Sam Robards) and Monica( Frances O Connor), whose own son Martin, is lying in a comatose state, and has been declared dead by the doctors. David slowly adjusts to his new home, and begins to bond with Monica, who also begins to like him, while having a new friend in Teddy, a robotic toy bear.
However with Martin recovering from the coma, and coming back home, troubles begin to start. Martin is jealous of David, resentful of his presence and begins to bully him. Monica loves David, almost like her own son, but Henry on the other hand, adopts a passive stance towards Martin’s bullying. After a rather unsavory incident, when Martin’s bullying almost results in him being drowned, Monica, has to take the step of abandoning David. Helpless and out of choice she leaves him in the woods alone along with Teddy, where he would be found and destroyed by the Cybernetics Corporation.
David now has to set out on an uncertain future and adventure. On the way he is captured and almost about to be destroyed at a Flesh Fair, where captured mechas and robots are destroyed in front of a cheering crowd. Fortunately he gets saved at the last minute, when the crowd protests against destroying him, and that is where he meets another android Gigolo Joe( Jude Law), an android cum gigolo, who is used by females. David and Joe bond together, as they set out on an adventure, where they reach Rogue City, where David could get to know the whereabouts of Blue Fairy, who could actually turn him into a boy.
A.I. to me is one of Steven Spielberg’s best movies ever, based on a script written by Stanley Kubrick, it was the collaboration of two masters, two of the greatest directors ever. Forget the dazzling cinematography, the dazzling visuals, what gives the movie it’s major strength is the emotional core. The entire story of David, the android, wishing to be a boy, wishing to experience a mother’s love, wishing to love and be loved. And most importantly the questions it raises, related to human feelings and emotions. If a robot could love a human, can a human love the robot back? Yes as people like Monica have shown, who loves David like her own son, showers her love on him. But she is a rarity in a world dominated by people like her son Martin, the sadistic bully or her husband Harry, a passive bystander.
I would not pick one particular scene in A.I, as a great scene, because it is well impossible for me to do so. Every moment in A.I is so wonderfully crafted, that you just can’t afford to miss even a moment. At every stage of the movie, you are forced to question the characters, their motivations and ultimately yourself. Because A.I is a movie that points to us, the human beings. When David begs his mother not to abandon him in the woods, he is making a plea to us, to our conscience. When the crowd cheers while the mechas are being destroyed, it is a damning indictment of us, how dehumanized we have become, where we cheer while people are being destroyed. There is a Martin in all of us, seeking to bully people whom we see as different, and there is a Harry in us, which watches this bullying passively.
Spielberg’s movies are always visually brilliant, and A.I. is no exception, be it the futuristic settings, the Rogue City, or the color shadings, the movie is a visual masterpiece. Every frame of the movie, is crafted like a beautiful painting, from which you can’t take your eyes away. But it is the emotional layers, the search of David for his mother, that give this beautiful painting a soul, which makes it come alive. A.I. is a movie that has to be seen, experienced and felt, it is a movie that comes once in a life time. A true masterpiece by Spielberg.