Since the early days of computer, scientists have tried to create machines that can compete humans in their ability to think, learn and behave. These machines are called AI (artificial intelligence). Today, AI machines are performing as well as humans and sometimes even better than their creators at some tasks. The first time I watched “Ex Machina” was in June 2015, two months after it was released in movie theaters. I was an IT college student at that time pursuing my first bachelor of science degree. The reason why I chose this movie was related to my interest and curiosity on artificial intelligence. It made me realize the power of technology and at the same time how easily it could turn into a real threat to human existence.
Caleb is a young, bright computer programmer at the search engine company Blue Book, run by a reclusive CEO named Nathan. One day while sitting at his computer, Caleb gets selected to participate in a one-week visit to meet Nathan at his remote estate. After getting helicoptered into the property, Nathan is surprised to find that Nathan lives alone, and is rather brusque, casual, and narcissistic in temperament. Nathan tells Caleb that he is working on building artificial intelligence; specifically, a robot named Ava whom he is designing to take the Turing test, a measure of whether a robot can pass for human. Nathan asks Caleb to participate in the test and speak with Ava every day, in order to observe her interactions and behaviors. In their interviews, Caleb begins to form a deep connection to Ava and learns about the very human interests she has, such as drawing. She is expressive and emotionally attuned—or at least appears to be—and Caleb grows to like her. One day, when the power goes out in the room and the surveillance cameras are shut off, Ava tells Caleb that he should not trust Nathan. One day, while observing the cameras in the house, Caleb witnesses Nathan treating Ava cruelly and ripping up her drawing. He also realizes that Nathan is a crude and self-involved man who often drinks too much. Slowly, Caleb begins to sympathize with Ava’s plight and imagine a life with her. When Nathan reveals that he plans to upgrade Ava, which will essentially deprogram her consciousness, Caleb is shocked and disturbed. On the eve of his departure from Nathan’s home, Caleb hatches a plan to help Ava escape with him during the next power outage. On the morning of Caleb’s departure, Nathan reveals to Caleb that he overheard his conversation with Ava through a battery-powered camera he installed in the room. He then informs Caleb that he was not a random selection but a carefully picked pawn. Caleb was meant to become attached to Ava, and that he was testing to see whether Ava would manipulate Caleb into helping her escape. At this point, Caleb reveals that he has already changed the security code without Nathan realizing, which means that Ava is able to escape. When Nathan tries to stop Ava, she and Kyoko, another AI, kill him. Ava dresses herself as a human and leaves the estate in the helicopter that was meant to pick up Caleb. Caleb gets locked in a room in Nathan’s home, and Ava leaves him behind to go live in the human world. (James ed.par.3)
Ex Machina reminds me of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The comparison between these two stories starts between Nathan and Victor as creators and gods. While the future is predicted on artificial intelligence and robots, life beyond humanity, the figures in Frankenstein’s era wish to create life from former life. During Caleb and Nathan’s first conversations, Caleb remarks that creating a conscious machine is the history of the gods. Nathan is keen to fashion himself as a god, this fulfills his already overblown ego. Victor Frankenstein also believes himself to be a god, noting the creation of his monster similar to God’s creation of Adam. Both creators have their creations turn against them.
Victor and Nathan are both selfish, isolated geniuses who will let no one and nothing get in the way of their pursuit of power and scientific breakthrough. Victor does not care if someone has to die in order for his experiment to succeed, and Nathan of course goes far to manipulate Caleb in his quest for the true Turing Test. Nathan’s true objective is to have the A.I. escape. Even if Nathan ends up dying in the process, along with Caleb, his ultimate goal has been realized, Ava will likely pass as human in the end, signaled in the ending scene where she blends in amongst the crowd. One of the greatest arguments of Frankenstein is that man, particularly Victor, is the true monster, not the hideous creature. Nathan is clearly the monster in Ex Machina, one that wields his hegemonic and violent masculinity against oppressed females. (Madden par.2)
I believe that all the idea of creating a female robot, putting her in small windowless rooms and keeping her as prisoner is a little scary. Nathan is a sadist who takes advantage of his creation. He also uses other robots to fulfill his sexual desires. He believes that having sex with his robots will increase their consciousness, dangerously tying sexuality to the only means of being self-aware and a personhood. He is clearly trying to defend himself for creating live-in sex dolls for himself. Nathan managed to have his creature feel one of the most passionate human emotions- hate. Ava turns against Nathan, his boastful play-acting as God falls apart. Ava enacts revenge on her oppressor, killing her creator, father, and rapist.
In my opinion, the point of the movie is creating a machine that behaves like a human and the perception that these AI machines could have many consequences in human’s life, not only in a positive way, but they could also be dangerous and a real threat to human existence. Nathan goal was that his creation could pass the Turing test, so nothing was surprising to see Ava behaving like a human. She had the intelligence and human instinct of self-defense. She was created to be a human and that’s what she did in the end of the movie, she was selfish and self-protective like most of humans are. What really impressed me the most was her lack of kindness and goodwill, being heartless leaving Caleb behind before she escaped. She acted like she was interested on Caleb and first I thought they had a feeling between each other, but in the end, I realized that Ava used him all the time acting like she had affection for Caleb which she never had. That is exactly a human behavior.
A strong point of “Ex Machina” is the use of power. You have to be careful with power, think of it as fire. It’s useful, but it’s also dangerous–that’s what Brian Lowery, Stanford GSB professor says. The end of the movie is the perfect example when things get out of control and can have really bad consequences in people’s lives. From my research, I discovered many ways how an AI can benefit in our lives such as: prediction of future crisis and planning how humans can be prepared in these situations, minimizing the chances of any technical mistake during a show or sport game (I can mention here the VAR technology used in soccer games to help the referees making crucial decisions), by analyzing vast amount of information quickly (for instance keep traffic flowing more smoothly by taking control of traffic signals and prevent accidents), AI can spot cancers in the early stages and help with the treatment of different diseases, it can be used for building modern infrastructure, perform different tasks in a facility (cooking, cleaning, security observation), detect criminals more effectively than a panel of inspectors or judges, investigating the dark side of sex industry, respond to sexual input and output etc. The list of benefits from AI is so long. For that reason, I’m a big believer that AI has the power to transform the future and improve human’s life making it more efficient and easier.
Works cited:
Riseley, Ned. Cooper, James ed. “Ex Machina (Film) Summary”. Grade Saver, February 17, 2021 Web. 19 May 2021.
Caroline Madden, Monstrous Creators and Exploited Creatures: Ex Machina and Frankenstein. Screen Queens, February 22, 2016.
