Ex Machina

 

I have come across an interesting film called Ex Machina which is thematically very similar to Her, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2025/06/her.html. It is the directional debut for somebody better known as a novelist and screenwriter, Alex Garland. It has an international cast and is also penned by Garland. The story is about a nerdy and solitary young man called Caleb who works as a coder for a major IT company. He wins a prize in the staff raffle which is a week staying with the company's CEO at his luxury retreat in a remote location. The place is beautiful, filmed in rural Norway. The CEO is a furtive and shifty individual, somewhat older than Caleb. He is also a functional alcoholic. He hints to Caleb that there's some big secret going on in his laboratory, but he won't reveal the secret until Caleb signs numerous non-disclosure agreements. Caleb eventually capitulates and finds out that the CEO is working on humanoid robots with artificial intelligence and wants Caleb to help him find out if these robots have consciousness. This is a subject I've delved into many times and I suspect it is impossible to know because one cannot tell the difference between real consciousness and a very good mimic of consciousness unless you are the entity being studied; in which case you will know with one hundred percent certainty. This is the central message of Her and also Ex Machina. There is a major difference in the conclusion though, along with numerous plot twists and double-twists. It explores the possibility of independent will in artificial intelligence and the ability to deceive others. It's well worth watching. At the moment it is on YouTube. This upload is seven years old so I assume it's authorized, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQF8DmC4XK8.
See here for background: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2023/03/should-we-welcome-our-ai-overlords.html.
And: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2021/07/free-will.html.