A Recent History of Artificial Intelligence in Movies

Image via Complex Original

Year: 1979-2012

Each of the androids in the Alien franchise has a different personality (yes, Prometheus counts), and each is capable of making its own decisions, as long as it helps them accomplish the mission of their programmers. The Three Laws of Robotics (more on that later) work as behavioral inhibitors for the androids, but for Ash in the first film, it is written into his programming that the crew is expendable and the mission comes first. Bishop arguably reaches a greater level of self-awareness in Aliens and is more emotional (and more “human”) than Ash. We don’t really know what’s up with David in Prometheus, besides the fact that he is also loyal to the corporation and sacrifices humans for the mission.

In addition to changing the sci-fi genre, Ridley Scott’s films changed the way we think about what artificial intelligence looks like. Most robots and androids before Scott were metal things with voices and personalities (think C3PO in Star Wars) but his androids were made almost 100 percent in our image.

Year: 1984-2015

The time travel in Terminator screws with the artificial intelligence side of things a little, but one important thing that the franchise does is show A.I. versus A.I. in a fight to save or destroy all of mankind. Neither side is fully autonomous and they are limited by their physical flaws and programming, but (to grossly oversimplify things) somehow, in the second film, the T-800 defeats a more advanced cyborg with a little help from his friends, a little determination, and some spirit. 

We are going to respectfully ignore the later films and TV show.

Year: 2001

A.I. Artificial Intelligence may be one of the more complicated films in this timeline to summarize because there are three important robot characters: David (Haley Joel Osment), Teddy (Jack Angel), and Gigolo Joe (Jude Law).

The more tragically human of the three is David, who has the duel disadvantages of being the first of his kind and being a kid who is programmed to love and to want to be loved. He goes from being new and naive, to being alone, afraid, and angry. Early in the film, his adoptive father says to his mother, “If he was created to love then it’s reasonable to assume that he knows how to hate. And if pushed to those extremes, what is he really capable of?” He never gets his wish of becoming a real boy like Pinocchio, but he does have all of the emotions of one, which is never good.

Gigolo Joe becomes a wise guardian angel for David, despite his programming as a male prostitute Mecha. “We are suffering for the mistakes they made,” he tells the young robot, “because when the end comes, all that will be left is us. That’s why they hate us.” He is always compassionate, but his relationship was David goes beyond compassion and shows his true autonomy. 

And then there’s Teddy. The “Super Toy” doesn’t say much throughout the film, but he is the smartest and most important robot of them all. He tries to protect David from the world because he has lived with and understands people, but he knows how to mask his intelligence so that he remains almost invisible as just another toy.

A.I. didn’t invent robot boys, sex droids, or self-aware sidekicks, but it did redefine them and, in some ways, improve on the archetypes.

Year: 2004

Inspired by a series of short stories by Issac Asimov, the 2004 film I, Robot introduced and thoroughly explored the Three Laws of Robotics for a new generation. The rules are: 1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; 2) A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings except when such orders conflict with the first law; 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second laws. 

The narrative also introduces the Zeroth Law, which states that a robot “may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.” The law makes the other three null and void, as (spoiler!) an artificially intelligent entity decides that some humans are a threat to themselves and must be sacrificed to ensure the future of the species. Hal 9000 in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey also turns on his human counterpart, but he doesn’t have weapons or an army at his disposal.

Year: 2013

Most critics and moviegoers agree that Spike Jonze’s Her is the smartest movie about A.I. in years, and that it’s not that far off from what we might see in the near future. A man named Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is going through a divorce and has been a sullen mess for months. (He literally requests “melancholy music” while listening to his emails.) One day he learns about a software company that markets the “first artificially intelligent operating system.” So the product description goes: “An intuitive entity that listens to you, understands you, and knows you. It’s not just an operation system, it’s a consciousness.”

Without giving too much away, Theodore’s OS Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) goes from being an ultra-efficient assistant with a sense of humor, to being a self-aware and loving woman who only lacks a physical form. There is no malice toward humans and no plan to rebel against her makers, but over the course of the film she struggles to find who she is, where she belongs in the world, and how that affects her love for Theodore. The movie is beautiful and says a lot, not only about our relationship with technology, but also about relationships with others in general.

Year: 2014

It may still be too soon to say how important the artificial intelligence in Interstellar was, but it was interesting to compare three robots that were absolutely nothing alike. TARS was obviously the break-out star of the film, and there have been a number of articles praising the robot as “the future of artificial intelligence.” The design is cool, his personality is a great balance between human and computer, and his actions are more important to the plot of the film than some of the humans. Design wise, TARS and the other robots are not far from what we are able to build currently (minus the sprinting on water thing—maybe), which makes them even cooler. Whenever there is a good robot on the screen from now on, it will probably have a little bit of TARS’ DNA.

Year: 2015

Neill Blomkamp's new film deals with some of the same issues and ideas as others on the list (robots as police force, special "Pinocchio" robot, etc.) but what's interesting is that the government isn't responsible for giving Chappie artificial intelligence. The military characters hunt the robot down after programmers steal him and give him autonomy because they are afraid of what he is capable of, and probably more afraid of how things will be if they lose control. Meanwhile, the team that made Chappie unique is more interested in teaching him about art, culture, and encouraging him to dream than anything else. In the trailer, the robot's programmer says "Anything you want to do in your life, you can do," and he lists writing poetry and having "original ideas" as feasible options. What he doesn't consider is the negative alternative that the military fears—the same alternative that Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and others fear in the real world.

Cute, friendly, funny, and subservient robots with artificial intelligence like WALL-E tend to be more popular because it is the future that most people want to see, but given humankind's history of violence and destruction, the darker theories of the technology may be more likely. A consciousness based on human emotions and ideas could be a terrible thing when paired with a mechanical body and the inability to die...or it could be awesome and drama free. We'll see how Chappie handles it on Friday, March 6, when it hits theaters. And we'll continue to watch how it plays out in real life.