back to article Ex Machina – a smart, suspenseful satire of our technology gods

It’s not easy to say something new about artificial intelligence in the movies. It’s pretty much a toss-up between the they-could-be-people-too argument of sweet child robot David in A.I. or the sphincter-tightening terror of HAL and the Terminator. But with Ex Machina, we get a more complex picture of our android future …

  1. Mage Silver badge

    riveting thriller takes fresh look at AI

    I seriously doubt that it takes a fresh look at AI.

    It might be a riveting thriller.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Terminator

      Re: riveting thriller takes fresh look at AI

      every door has to be accessed with a keycard and half the facility is underground

      Yep, I can see where this going, but hopefully I am wrong.

      It’s rare to say something new about AI

      Because in the end it is just another management system, hopefully quite a bit more refined and widely read than the drooling reflex bags wearing suits currently in charge. Vote for AI? I would.

      1. nkuk

        Re: riveting thriller takes fresh look at AI

        In some respects its probably the film you would expect it to be, but that doesn't take anything away from it being an excellent, thought provoking film.

  2. Dave 126 Silver badge

    Garland took on some of the duties traditionally associated with direction during Dredd 3D.

    http://www.webcitation.org/6AeJkhk7A

  3. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    sphincter-tightening terror of HAL

    Dude, what.

    Next: the sphincter-tightening terror of tensor calculus.

    1. John H Woods Silver badge

      "Next: the sphincter-tightening terror of tensor calculus." --- Destroy All Monsters

      Ah, yes the method of steepest descent can give one the willies --- especially if one is in a complex plane (like an Airbus a320)

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

        I hate to be that guy, but tensor calculus has not much to do with steepest descent.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    Actually...

    Why is it a fembot?

    An AI will not have much in common with a young lady's behavorial logic.

    Even in GiTS, the female lead still has an organic brain.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Actually...

      >An AI will not have much in common with a young lady's behavorial logic.

      Obviously, one is a sometimes quasi-human being with occasional flashes of rationality which most scientists and mathematicians will never understand.

      .....and the other is one of their valued colleagues

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        quasi-human being with occasional flashes of rationality

        the in-depth research results are presented in this video:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKveOsIieHg

    2. skeptical i
      Devil

      Re: Actually...

      re: "An AI will not have much in common with a young lady's behavorial logic."

      It depends on the young lady, dunnit. :^)

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Actually...

      I've found that women are far more rational than most any male I've come across. A woman may react emotionally for a short period of time but once done, it's done. Then they dust themselve's off and get on with the pragmatic afterwards. It's the males that have they quaint notions of Duty, Loyalty, Honor, and all the other insanities they value over the practicalities of providing for the children.

      [Should earn me a flurry of downvotes but still true.]

      1. DropBear
        FAIL

        Re: Actually...

        Sure, if your epitome of "rational" is defined as "providing for the children" you can't go wrong with women (well, most of them). Then there's the rest of us who would prefer a "rational" dialogue that extends beyond "BUT THINK OF THE CHILDREN!"

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Actually...

        "I've found that women are far more rational than most any male I've come across"

        You're obviously not married to one then.

    4. fandom

      Re: Actually...

      The rationality of males is way overrated.

      Check a football/rugby/whatever match if you don't believe me.

      Or, if you are into that kind of thing, an OS flame war.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Actually...

        >Check a football/rugby/whatever match if you don't believe me.

        >Or, if you are into that kind of thing, an OS flame war.

        If you think that supporting a team or debating the merits of things is irrational then you might as well say all human behaviour is irrational. However they are somewhat different to the female type of irrationality where they'll just randomly decide something with no logical basis whatsoever - not even the "they scored more goals last month" level. However from my experience there does tend to be a major correlation of the level of their irrationality with the time of the month. Can't think why...

    5. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

      Re: Actually... @Destroy All Monsters

      GiTS is all about the balance between artificial and natural conciousness. It's the main theme from both the film and the TV series, although it's more difficult to see in the original Manga.

      There are AIs that aspire to be 'human' with the tachikomas and Project 2501, and AIs masquerading as humans as in Proto. And then you've got cyborgs who wonder whether they still count as human, Motoko and Bateau, with side stories of clones, ghost dubbing onto both clones and artificial bodies, and what being human actually means.

      I've not seen this yet, but I seriously doubt that it really brings much more to the subject than what's in fiction already. It will likely be an aspirational story about wanting to be human and the trials it involves like Blade Runner, The Bicentennial Man, Demonseed or even in some respects, Disney's Little Mermaid. But I will look forward to seeing it when it hits Sky or the like.

    6. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: Actually...

      An AI will not have much in common with a young lady's behavorial logic.

      People seem to assume that this is some kind of criticism of womankind. This is not so, it is just a criticism to anthropomorphize the AI a bit much.

      SAL 9000 just was a blue eye, for example. Won't pull in many viewers, mind.

    7. Brangdon

      Re: Why is it a fembot?

      The reasons for it being female (or, indeed, having a gender at all) are more or less explained in the film.

  5. LaeMing
    Joke

    March 5?!?

    Aussies have to wait until March 5???!!!

    Cooooommmme Onnnnnn! I can understand making the Yanks wait, but please:

    Won't someone think of the Commonwealth!

  6. ColonelDare
    Thumb Up

    I think I liked it, I think.

    I enjoyed it more than expected. It wasn't the AI that made me think, AI is all around us already - it is AC that is so much more challenging and unsettling. I think Alex Garland, as screen writer, did a good job rhetorically conveying the conundrums around Artificial Consciousness - we can't even define it, nor would we know how to prove it if it came along in a box (or a feminine robot). Garland did a pretty good job with the cinematography too.

    Ignore the chitchat above about why choose a fembot (?) and go and see it for yourself. It was 95 minutes well spent, and it renewed my interest in that cognitive psychology module I did some years ago....

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not a happy ending

    Enjoyed the film and a clever ending, definitely wont go down well in America as its not a happy ending.

    1. Simon Harris

      Re: Not a happy ending

      Oy Ian, shut it!

      I don't want to know anything about the ending until I've seen it!

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It’s not easy to say something new about artificial intelligence

    hey, mister, you missed groundbreaking revelations about AI (or was it IE?) in that (...) movie with Scarlettson's (Johannson's?) voice.

  9. MJI Silver badge

    I need to see this

    It looks good

  10. Simon Harris

    "The Machine"

    Another British movie with some similar ideas - saw this one Netflix a few weeks ago.

    IMDB entry

    1. The First Dave

      Re: "The Machine"

      And presumably all of the blurbs were pronounced correctly - really gets my goat when I hear the voice-over at the end of the trailer saying "Ex Mack in a"

      1. Kubla Cant

        Re: "The Machine"

        really gets my goat when I hear the voice-over at the end of the trailer saying "Ex Mack in a"

        I hope I'm not missing the point of some exquisitely honed irony, but can you let us know how you think ex machina should be pronounced? "Ex Mack in a" may not be International Phonetic Alphabet, but it seems a reasonable approximation, unless you favour Edwardian Latin pronunciation.

        1. The First Dave

          Re: "The Machine"

          I would expect the ch to be soft, a bit like in, to pick a random example: machine

          1. Grade%

            Re: "The Machine"

            But, how ever would we know it's LATIN and not someone mispronouncing the word 'machine'?

  11. This post has been deleted by its author

  12. RudeUnion

    I hope it isn't another movie about ai trying to break free which could be bad for humans. It's become cliche now. I definitely like the aspect that it's all manipulation and even trying to save her was part of the plan to get them closer.

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