Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability demonstrated by machines to acquire and apply knowledge and skills to tasks including speech recognition, computer vision, human language translations, and other input mappings. Observing mechanical reasoning began with philosophers and mathematicians, and mathematical logic generated Alan Turing’s theory of computation, which suggested a machine could simulate mathematical deductions with simple symbols like numbers. The concept of digital computers simulating processes of formal reasoning is the Church–Turing thesis and discoveries in neurobiology, information theory, and cybernetics, has led researchers to building an electronic brain. The first AI work to be recognized was McCullouch and Pitts’ 1943 formal design for being able to recognize or determine other data-manipulation rule sets. Symbolic AI creates symbolic representations and systems with reasoning abilities, and the connection approach achieves artificial intelligence by learning sequences.
AI was founded conceptualizing the belief that human intelligence is so precisely described that a machine can be designed to simulate it, which raised arguments about ethics and the mind. AI beings with abilities to reason with the world have appeared as storytelling devices and a persistent theme in science fiction since the beginning of researchers studying the AI field. The earliest known story about an artificial being evolving is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, which involves a monstrous human creation causing destruction and threatening the inventor that originally created it. Observing an exploration of humans co-existing with AI beings and the circumstances involved, including romance, here are the best movies about humans in AI relationships.
10 HotBot (2016)
Hot Bot is a sci-fi comedy film described as a modern-day Weird Science, about two nerdy and sexually repressed teenage boys who accidentally discover a sex robot named Bardot. Since a German company produced the female android designed for sexual use, it was not licensed for use in the US, so Utah Senator Biter ordered a deluxe Bardot model. However, the robot accidentally activates and escapes during transport to the senator, and is found by the boys, who mistake it for a live woman. The film’s director, Michael Polish said, “Hot Bot is my homage to Weird Science. Two teenage boys run into a sex robot. It’s frustration and fun from that point on.”
9 Weird Science (1985)
Weird Science is about two nerdy teenage boys, who are bullied at school, and inspired by the 1931 film Frankenstein to create the girl of their dreams on a computer. The science fiction comedy fantasy film was written and directed by John Hughes, starring Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, and Kelly LeBrock, and premiered in theaters on August 2, 1985. Lebrock, who portrayed Lisa in the film, said, “John was a genius at comic relief, family situations, and geeks getting the girl, and it allows all of us humans who are insecure (and most of us are) to feel like a hero. That’s the beauty of the fantasy of the film, it’s that these boys who didn’t stand a chance with the girls, actually get to be heroes and everyone loves to see the fallen person land on their feet.”
8 A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence is a 2001 science fiction film about an android programmed to love. Haley Joel Osment plays David, the childlike android with abilities to experience love. Osment said, “I remember [Spielberg] described the movie as mostly being about your responsibility to intelligence.”
Jude Law portrays Joe in the film and said, “Joe is quite an extraordinary character. He’s a robot who is supposed to be really good at his job. So in terms of giving Joe an organic energy that mixed with his mechanical side, I studied mime, some dance and even peacock movements. As a robot who is programmed to display various kinds of seductive behavior, I had to be skillful in the art of attraction, and multiple transformations and physical movements to go along with that. So the intent was that I be a mixture of many things, and a combination of organic and plastic, and also romantic and futuristic.”
7 Electric Dreams (1984)
Electric Dreams is a 1984 film about an architect and his artificially intelligent PC, who find themselves involved in a romantic rivalry over his neighbor. The sci-fi romantic comedy film was directed by Steve Barron and written by Rusty Lemorande, starring Lenny Von Dohlen, Virginia Madsen, Maxwell Caulfield, and more. Barron first established himself as a director of in the music videos for pop stars of the early 80s including Michael Jackson, A-ha, Madonna, Paul McCartney and The Human League. About developing the music for the film, Barron said, “Giorgio Moroder was hired as composer and played me a demo track he thought would be good for the movie. It was the tune of ‘Together In Electric Dreams’, but with some temporary lyrics sung by someone who sounded like a cheesy version of Neil Diamond.” The film received mixed reviews from critics but won several awards and nominations at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival and BAFTA Awards Ceremony in 1985.
6 WestWorld (1973)
Westworld is a 1973 dystopian science fiction film about an adult amusement park called Delos, which is technologically advanced, populated by android hosts, and features three futuristic-themed fantasy worlds. The amusement park allows affluent guests to fulfill their wildest fantasies with help from the park’s android hosts that are programmed to not harm humans. The science fiction Western film was written and directed by Michael Crichton, starring Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, and James Brolin as an amusement park android and guests of the park. The film garnered positive reviews and was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Saturn awards. Westworld was followed by a sequel titled Futureworld in 1976, and two television series of the same name, which later debuted in 1980 and 2016.
5 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is a 1997 spy comedy film involving Fembots, which are attractive female androids with machine guns in their breasts. The fembots were created by Dr. Evil in a plot to defeat Austin and fulfill his plans to drill a nuclear warhead into the Earth’s core, triggering volcanic eruptions worldwide. Mindy Sterling, who played Frau Farbissina, said, “It’s Mike Myers and his worldview of these type of movies that he grew up on and what he thought was funny, and what he used to then put this incredible cast together and this story together.” On why the film was successful, Robert Wagner, who played Number Two, said, “It was outrageous. Some of the things were just outrageous and the younger people just clamored onto it.”
4 The Stepford Wives (2004)
The Stepford Wives is a 2004 film about a small town community wherein the wives have husbands who programmed them with microchips to function as the perfect woman and spouse. The science fiction black comedy film was directed by Frank Oz, written by Paul Rudnick, and stars Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Glenn Close, Christopher Walken, and Faith Hill. Rudnick said, “We’re living in an age of the web and computer animation. We took full advantage of all the technological developments. People are far more willing to accept technology in every area of their lives now, both threateningly and in a very seductive way. There are people out there who can’t wait to buy the newest, tiniest cell phone or the latest video game, or any other hot consumer item. The Stepford Wives is a very natural display of expected Geeksville.”
3 Blade Runner (1982)
Blade Runner is a sci-fi film about bioengineered androids that are identical to adult humans, but with superior strength, agility, and variable intelligence depending on each type of replica model. A replicant is detected by the Voight-Kampff test, which provokes emotional responses that differ from humans’ responses. Replicants also have a safety mechanism that prevents them from developing empathic cognition. Blade Runner director, Ridley Scott, described the film as “extremely dark, both literally and metaphorically, with an oddly masochistic feel”, and after his sibling passed away, he “liked the idea of exploring pain”. He said, “When he was ill, I used to go and visit him in London, and that was really traumatic for me.” Since the film was released in 1982, Blade Runner has become a cult classic and is credited for having significant influence in the sci-fi genre.
2 Her (2013)
You have to wait 90 seconds.
Her is a 2013 science-fiction romantic drama film about a man who develops a relationship with an AI virtual assistant personified through a female voice. The director of the film, Spike Jonze, said, “There’s definitely ways that technology brings us closer and ways that it makes us further apart — and that’s not what this movie is about. It really was about the way we relate to each other and long to connect: our inabilities to connect, fears of intimacy, all the stuff you bring up with any other human being… You know how you can order bespoke custom sneakers online that are just your size with just the colors you want? Everything’s like that. It was trying to make this world that’s really comfortable and very easy to live in. To feel isolated in that setting hits that much more.”
1 Ex Machina (2014)
Ex Machina is a 2014 film about a programmer who wins a one-week stay at the luxurious, isolated home of the CEO of the search engine company he works for. During his visit, he participates in a ground-breaking experiment that involves synthetic intelligence and evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced A.I. humanoid. The humanoid eventually attacks him and escapes in his transportation, leaving him hostage, to an unidentified city, where she blends into a crowd of people. The writer and director of the film, Alex Garland, said, “This was a tricky movie in all sorts of different ways. It’s got difficult subject matter. It’s quite adult in some of the themes and images. It has long sections of dialogue and also, actually, long periods of silence — just music and images and stuff. Creative freedom was vital. If we had started compromising it, we would have been in big trouble. The only way to execute it was to go for it 100 percent.”
