Almost 99% of movies about AI depict them as humanoid robots. This is because the majority of people can't even imagine that something can be intelligent without having a human form!
"What has been affirmed without proof can also be denied without proof."(Euclid)
So let us see if we can turn your barb into an interesting discussion. If you were Nathan what form would you have the AI machine take? What form do you think would be the ideal to make a functioning AI machine?
..*.. TxMike ..*..
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes not.
an AI is a software. a computer is what an AI looks like (HAL9000 is another proof of Kubrick's genius, not making it human like).
"What has been affirmed without proof can also be denied without proof."(Euclid)
Yeah but didn't Kubrick work hard for a while on A.I: Artificial life (2001) which is about AI in human form? So using that as an example of Kubrick genius doesn't make sense if he was to do it later anyway.
I personally think that putting AI in human form is the smartest way of doing it. It is easier to understand, manipulate, replicate and even relate to something that resembles ourselves. I mean look at how creepy terminator, HAL, And the AI robots in the matrix look. The invention would not be trust worthy and therefore less relatable if the AI wasn't in a humanoid form.
AI would first be developed as computer software but to make full use of it, you'd put it into human form. As a humanoid, your AI machine could run a harvesting combine, drive a car, perform surgery, or whatever human tasks you would want it to do. That way, you could use your old combine, automobile, scalpel, etc., and not have to design new machines for each function. Build one AI robot in human form and sell it to do multiple tasks with simple and inexpensive reprograming as opposed to developing an entirely new machine for each application.
shareIn this movie it made sense, because Jay specifically made the robot to tempt Caleb and see if Ava would use him to try to escape. He couldn't have hoped for that if Ava didn't look like a human...in this case female since Caleb liked girls.
shareYeah, but we wouldn't get that killer dance scene with HAL 9000.
shareNo or at least not like you're making it out to be.
Sure we have a positive reaction towards our own form but the idea that we only think intelligence comes from that is stretching things. The AI really takes on whatever form fits best for the program or movie at hand.
HAL 9000 was a computer but he needed to be a computer so he could be everywhere at once. A humanoid AI could not do the same thing and so it made sense for it to be a mainframe and not a robot of sorts. Same for a movie like "Colossus: The Forbin Project". It needed to be a mainframe.
In this case it was a Turing test that Caleb was involved in but the reason for making Ava humanoid was also to give Caleb a reason to sympathize with her. Think how different it would have been had Caleb been doing the standard Turing test through a keyboard and monitor. He would type things out, Ava would respond but when he decides that she's human Nathan pulls back the curtain and you see that Ava is actually a large bank of servers networked together. It wouldn't have the same impact and she couldn't manipulate him any more. He would no longer feel any emotion towards her because she's really a hunk of metal, glass, plastic and silicon.
Besides the Turing test wasn't only being run on her to determine if she was real or not. It was run on him as well to see if he was the type of guy that would fall for her. And in this movie the AI needed to look not only human but exactly like the kind of girl that Caleb was attracted to.
Didn't Nathan later admit that he based Ava's face on Caleb's pornography interests/the type of girls he tends to like? So, it was very intentional to pull Caleb in and manipulate him.
shareI'm watching the movie currently. I just watched a scene where your question is addressed. After Ava is flirting with Caleb, he asks why Nathan gave her sexuality and says that the A.I. could have been a grey box. He's accusing Nathan of programming her to flirt so as to manipulate him. Nathan replies by saying that there would be no point in making a grey box. What is consciousness without interaction? So, the reason she is in human form is because he wanted the A.I. to be able to experience the world and not simply exist.
shareWe have a winner.
shareExcept there's movies like Her.
share