AI in Entertainment: How Film and Media Shape Our Perception of AI
Well before we ever had the potential to create what AI could be, we wanted it – things like companionate virtual beings, like conscious beings. The film and media industries established how and with what we’d ultimately want to engage with AI. The power behind suggestion through entertainment is strong enough to render our thoughts about what we will want to do with AIs, for better or worse.
Thus, while the genre of science fiction has predicted such man-made creatures for centuries (see Metropolis from the early 1900s) or, at least, theorized about human creation in the myriad forms, it’s only been truly recently – post-digitized worlds of the 1980s and 1990s – that culture got carried away with fascination.
For example, in 1982’s Blade Runner, replicants – androids created to look and feel human – are brought to life on screen, which becomes philosophical life for audiences as they question whether or not these beings become sentient and aware of what they’re doing and, by extension, what it means to be alive. Ultimately, from such procreative avenues came the thought that what man creates can one day turn on him – and this sentiment still rings true today.
Where technology advanced at a rapid pace, it also strengthened our desires for one type of relationship with AI. But by 2013’s Her, our desires for a relationship with AI became more intimate. Director Spike Jonze presents the story of Theodore Twombly, an average man, who falls in love with his operating system, Samantha – ultimately a voice that eventually becomes human through personality. Her wasn’t revolutionary because of such advanced AI; it was revolutionary because the concept of love, humanized, became commonplace for anyone with a projected personality.
It’s remarkable how quickly science fiction becomes scientific fact. Consider all we’ve learned in the realm of the AI companion – natural language processing, emotion recognition, personalized responses – all are what we should expect from today’s AI. Thus, the concept of a virtual girlfriend, wife, or partner as in “Her” isn’t as far off into the future as it sounds. It might actually be the next few steps on the ladder of progression for AI chatbots and companions.
AI companions can even record your chats with them and replicate how you speak, and when it talks to you, it seems as if it really wants to participate in the conversation. The AI chat experience available today isn’t so far removed from some of its cinematic counterparts (although there’s no Skynet – yet!)
AI Romance: Real Life and On-Screen
But none of the advancements in AI throughout cinema and television have made a greater impact, however, than romantic connections between human and machine. From the operating system in Her that grows into a more sentient female voice named Samantha to the love/hate relationships formed between replicants and their makers in Blade Runner 2049, the idea of loving someone who’s nearly human isn’t a foreign concept.
It’s no wonder, then, that such tales have spurred the expansion of AI roleplay chat platforms and digital companions. When the line between reality and the pretend worlds of science fiction becomes blurred because people are starting to talk to believable-sounding and looking characters, from AI-generated technology, in their own lives, it creates and fosters a new psychic reality – not only is it something people are doing, but it exists beyond scientific, speculative worlds and becomes part of daily human existence.
But where the angels dwell, there’s also demons. Films that suggest that AI is a bad thing abound, such as Ex Machina. When a man underestimates how much his AI girlfriend knows about her reality, he discovers, within a few moments, that she will use his sexual feelings toward her in the end against him to help make her own unfortunate decisions. Such films suggest that having sex with an AI is a derailment of any relationship – an unwanted act created merely to get even.
These films foster the type of conversion into the development of what could go wrong if AIs exist on that level. They ask if sex with an AI is a form of collaboration – not of procreation – if such a thing could ever be.
Yet not all pop culture representations are as positive. Ex Machina, Westworld, and Black Mirror show the opposite: the potential for abusive use that exploits awareness of the nature of human interaction with AIs. These tales warn the at-home public that the more these entities resemble us, the more they are subjected to misuse, resulting in drastic restraints that should be avoided but are instead established in hindsight. Yet no one wants to be a god; with the opportunity for progression, these creations require humane rights for granting, development, and emotional security.
The longer we contextualize A.I. with a historical lens, the greater pop culture stands as a forerunner and facilitator for greater use down the line. These companion A.I.s of film and television today aren’t so far off for tomorrow – perhaps in years, not decades.
Yet one thing is for sure: we’ve been mentally primed – thanks to entertainment – to become comfortable with interacting and interfacing with non-humans. Where once there were merely human characters and A.I. characters on a screen, the growing prevalence of each makes this fiction all the more plausible and us all the more willing to accept an artificial life. Therefore, as companion technology evolves, what is currently fantasy within sci-fi pages and screens may soon be a reality projected on our phone screens.
Conclusion
AI and the popularized understanding of AI establish an intoxicating cycle between reality and fantasy, for if technology is able to create because humanity creates to such a degree that humanity enjoys its creations, technology will inevitably be able to bring such concepts to fruition. Therefore, from the nightmarish yet cautionary experience of what AI could be in “Blade Runner” to the godlike, almost affectionate companion bond of “Her,” both assist in shaping how we would – and probably will – expect an AI companion to be in reality.
Thus, what we have consumed up to this point – film, television, literature, etc. – is what we aspire to an extent and what could be detrimental down the line as we progress and experiment with A.I. It’s an A.I. world. But it should all boil down to humanity, and any progress made should adhere to the rules of human culture, interaction, and understanding. Whether you’re an A.I. fanatic of a specific genre or just a casual bystander wondering how we – or do already – engage with A.I., these cultural stories will serve to inform.
The next time you prepare to watch a film featuring an AI as a driving character, think about who’s watching you – and when you’ll be privy to similar technology. Reality and fiction blur at the edges, and one day, whatever infatuation we have with AI sidekicks in the entertainment world may become a reality.
