Humanized

A.I. Artificial Intelligence examines the possibilities and pitfalls in a world where machines are able to comprehend and experience complex human emotions. In the realm of today’s technological ambitions, artificial intelligence refers to self aware machines that can interpret complex environments, make decisions, communicate, and learn from their experiences. However, in the setting of this film these goals have already been accomplished. In the modern context of the story, a prototype robot in the form of a child has been created to explore the possibility of a machine with A.I. that could also express and feel love and the other complex emotions that are a part of human behavior. The goals of this A.I. system is to create a machine that can operate in the abstract and on a level beyond logic, a more human level. As pointed out in The Most Human, Human, machines that operate under the domain of A.I. often repeat phrases and behaviors they are programmed to know and use. However, generating new ideas and behaviors beyond repeating an outside source demands the manipulation of the abstract in the form of creativity. To achieve this requires a machine that can dream and imagine. Even more complex than this a machine that can navigate, experience, and share in complex human emotion, such as love.

A machine that can love brings several ethical and moral questions to the table. In A.I. the name of the prototype for the advanced artificial intelligence with the capacity to love is David. Other than physiology the conceptual differences between a machine that can love and a human are blurred. In the plot of this movie, a machine that interprets the world as a human does, but is treated as a robot is tortuous. Scenes from the film include jailed robots, old, broken, and unwanted being torn to pieces and destroyed on stage for the sake of human entertainment. This scene exhibited shadows of historical atrocities where a group of humans distinguished by sex, race, religion, etc. had been ostracized, dehumanized, and objectified to the point of torture and slaughter without empathy or care for their wellbeing. This scene and its implications shed light on a new ethical dilemma in the evolution of human rights.

The tortuous behavior and genocidal practices conducted on dehumanized groups of the past have since been deemed unethical, immoral, and wrong. In light of this, what is to be said about the tortuous behavior and genocidal practices of machines that have been humanized?  At what point do machine with artificial intelligence become human enough to be protected by human rights? The distinguishing factor between David and the older machines being destroyed seem to be his fear of the unknown after destruction and his desire of living to the point of pleading for his life. Other machines recognized their destruction as being logically unbeneficial to them and strove to avoid it. However, in the face of destruction, they did not fear death and separation the way that humans do, the way that David did. David’s artificial intelligence was deserving of human rights, because he was sentient, had a strong desire to live, and was willing to abandon logic based reasoning in pursuit of the abstract, the greater reward of sharing in the complex abstraction of love.