AI in Movies
We all worry about robots taking over and killing us all but most of the time especially in the movies the AI verges on the side of childishness. With the below ranking of AI in movies, you can see that throughout cinema AI leans heavily on the more childlike nature.
Gort – The Day the Earth Stood Still
This extraterrestrial robot does have some great skills, but he’s very limited when it comes to actual intelligence, it doesn’t do much that a cutting-edge self-driving car can’t do today. He’s not too advanced he’s a turn, point and shoot kinda guy,
R2-D2 – Star Wars
As one of the most beloved robots from the robot-heavy Star Wars franchise, R2-D2 has a lot of character. It’s noted that his memory has never been wiped, expanding his character and his intelligence. Still, R2-D2’s limited ability to communicate makes him seem more childish. There’s only so many beeps an bops you can put up with!
Johnny 5 – Short Circuit
You only need to see how he pronounces Stephanie for you to realise the childish nature of Johnny 5. A comedic character capable of speech recognition and humour. Johnny 5 may have an intelligent understanding and processing of knowledge but it still channels that knowledge in a childish manner.
Max – Flight of the Navigator
A ship that can bend time itself but it doesn’t necessarily make it adult like. Max doesn’t know a great deal about the world. David, the protagonist of the movie, ends up teaching Max about the world despite being a young boy himself.
Robot – Robot & Frank
This support robot still plays a charming role in the movie but with slow processing and a dodgy memory this robot is squarely in the childish category.
Droids – Elysium
In Elysium, androids police the world we live in. They’re created to carry out simple tasks. These tasks are within the boundaries of policing and whilst adult in nature the actually undertaking of these commands is very simplistic indeed.
Robocop – Robocop
A rather childlike character when you forget about the human inside. Just a metal tin can of immense strength and capabilities. Not so much smart tech rather the smarts lie within the human operating the AI suit.
Chappie – Chappie
This movie is all about a childish AI; that’s a big part of its charm. The AI in question is able to improve itself, and it can perform fairly incredible feats of strength and cunning. But despite all of that, the character largely exists in the story as a childlike AI trying to build itself a character.
Conclusion
Childlike intelligence in AI is often displayed in many movies. Not so much iRobot (pictured above) but used in other films to build sympathy towards the AI in question. There’s something interesting about seeing an AI on screen and we all cross our fingers they don’t become sentient and kill us all in real life. I’d keep that Alexa in a box far, far away for the time being!
