FABI, N III
PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY
SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
(Summary and Reflection Paper)
The film A.I.: Artificial Intelligence depicts a variety of approaches to expressing humanity,
innocence, love, and truth. The film portrays a world in which the advancement of high
technology has dramatically increased the number of sophisticated humanoid robots. These
robots have become an essential part of the society because they are used to assist humans in a
variety of ways. They were created to be capable of performing human tasks, to the point that
they made a robot to act as a substitute child.
The story revolves around David, a child-substitute Mecha, an artificial life form
programmed to love and be loved. David acts as a child to the Swinton family to express love for
them, just like any child would. Since he is a highly sophisticated robot, the way he fulfils his
objective to love and to be loved is never the same as it would be for a normal person. David is
like Pinocchio, a puppet who dreams of becoming a real child. A real child has human emotions,
a feeling that the environment and people around us cause. In the case of David, his human-like
emotions were only based on his program that he must express love and be loved by Monica
Swinton, his mother. For this reason, David becomes a harmful robot since he cannot perceive
what is ethical and unethical, which is probably because of what he is programmed with.
As David is abandoned in the forest by his mother, his programming to be loved created
a desire to become a real boy. His program suggests that becoming a real boy would make his
mother love him and be loved by him; therefore, he goes on to find the Blue Fairy, which he thinks
can turn him into a real boy. David goes on to find the Blue Fairy, but as he goes on, he only finds
himself not unique because he sees a machine that looks just like him. He destroyed the robot
because a real boy is unique according to his program. As the story goes on, he only finds out
that there are many models of him, and in the end, he fails to become a real boy because the
Blue Fairy is only a fairy tale. At the movie's end, he meets extraordinary creatures that help him
become a real boy but only in a memory created by them.
The movie tells us that artificial intelligence can make our life more comfortable and do
human activities; however, it cannot replace humans in every task, role, or job. It can be
concluded that artificial intelligence will never become human. Therefore, we should consider the
limitations of technology in our life, especially in the future when technology will become highly
advanced.
PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY
SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
(Summary and Reflection Paper)
The film A.I.: Artificial Intelligence depicts a variety of approaches to expressing humanity,
innocence, love, and truth. The film portrays a world in which the advancement of high
technology has dramatically increased the number of sophisticated humanoid robots. These
robots have become an essential part of the society because they are used to assist humans in a
variety of ways. They were created to be capable of performing human tasks, to the point that
they made a robot to act as a substitute child.
The story revolves around David, a child-substitute Mecha, an artificial life form
programmed to love and be loved. David acts as a child to the Swinton family to express love for
them, just like any child would. Since he is a highly sophisticated robot, the way he fulfils his
objective to love and to be loved is never the same as it would be for a normal person. David is
like Pinocchio, a puppet who dreams of becoming a real child. A real child has human emotions,
a feeling that the environment and people around us cause. In the case of David, his human-like
emotions were only based on his program that he must express love and be loved by Monica
Swinton, his mother. For this reason, David becomes a harmful robot since he cannot perceive
what is ethical and unethical, which is probably because of what he is programmed with.
As David is abandoned in the forest by his mother, his programming to be loved created
a desire to become a real boy. His program suggests that becoming a real boy would make his
mother love him and be loved by him; therefore, he goes on to find the Blue Fairy, which he thinks
can turn him into a real boy. David goes on to find the Blue Fairy, but as he goes on, he only finds
himself not unique because he sees a machine that looks just like him. He destroyed the robot
because a real boy is unique according to his program. As the story goes on, he only finds out
that there are many models of him, and in the end, he fails to become a real boy because the
Blue Fairy is only a fairy tale. At the movie's end, he meets extraordinary creatures that help him
become a real boy but only in a memory created by them.
The movie tells us that artificial intelligence can make our life more comfortable and do
human activities; however, it cannot replace humans in every task, role, or job. It can be
concluded that artificial intelligence will never become human. Therefore, we should consider the
limitations of technology in our life, especially in the future when technology will become highly
advanced.
