Summary

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence explores the moral implications of creating a robot with human-like emotions and a desire for love and acceptance. The film highlights the threat of denying a sentient being the right to understand and grow in the same way as a human. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence remains a compelling and visually stunning fairytale that resonates with audiences, addressing themes of love, loss, and the consequences of playing god.

There was (a more innocent?) time when the internet seemed like our greatest problem. It was there in a big, scary way. A chasm that offered people immense opportunities at a great personal price. But one man saw what was coming next. He saw what we actually had to fear.

Steven Spielberg brought us A.I.: Artificial Intelligence in 2001. It was his adaptation of a project started by Stanley Kubrick. Though not the first to use the term A.I., the film was the first to show what he thought it would mean for our future. For Spielberg, A.I. would not look like it sent Arnold Schwarzenegger back from the future. It would look far more wholesome and thus be far more divisive.

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Warner Bros. Pictures

The film takes place in the 22nd century when global warming has impacted most of the world. However, technology has moved forward. Now, humanity has developed Mecha. These are humanoid robots capable of complex interactions. Haley Joel Osment plays David, the most recent and advanced Mecha. However, David is the first to be given true emotions.

David is given to Henry and Monica Swinton (Sam Robard and Frances O’Connor) by Professor Allen Hobby (William Hurt) as the first test case. The couple is given David because their son has fallen into a coma and will likely never regain consciousness. They are told that David is like any other Mecha except for the fact that, if they choose, they can use a specific code to permanently imprint on him. When Monica eventually chooses this option, David’s entire countenance changes, and he falls instantly in love with how a child feels true love for their mother.

Related: 20 Scariest Movies About Artificial Intelligence

However, the Swinton’s son miraculously heals, and they suddenly fear David, as he seems hellbent on being the only child. Monica takes David and his own toy Mecha, Teddy, out to the woods and leaves him there. David believes that if he can become a real boy, Monica will love him again and, just like Pinocchio, only the blue fairy can help him. He and Teddy begin their quest to find her.

On his quest, he learns about human hatred for Mecha when he is forced into a hellish Flesh Fair but is spared when they assume he is a real boy. He finds himself in a futuristic city where he befriends a Mecha gigolo named Joe, and they learn the whereabouts of the blue fairy.

However, David does not know he was programmed for this journey. It leads him to the flooded skyscrapers of New York City, where he is confronted not only with his maker but the fact that he is about to be mass-produced. This concept destroys him, and he attempts to kill himself by leaping from the building into the waters below. He becomes stuck in a sunken transport ship, staring out endlessly at a statue of a blue fairy, just far enough out of reach that he can never truly get to her.

The Real Threat
Warner Bros.

David represents something that films about A.I. had never really tackled before this point. He is not an unstoppable killing machine. He is not the Terminator, RoboCop, or anything else that is nearly as physically destructive. But the question is whether his existence is the threat. A robot with an unending life that does not age, who is bestowed emotions by a creator, and who is denied the right to understand and grow in the ways a normal person would.

Related: The Most Human-Like Artificial Intelligence in Movies, Ranked

A.I. shows us a world in which robots look and act in similar ways to humans. They are the future in a way that science fiction has always dreamed of. The World of Tomorrow. Robots handle all things, do the hard jobs, and are there to fill sexual needs. It is an adult version of The Jetsons.

But the horror, the real crux of the issue, is that they made a child. The thing that people often bestow love and affection on simply for being young and impressionable. They even chose a child for the way a potential parent would imprint upon them. Our phones listen to us because they have been trained to note our voices and map our faces. This is data at its most basic. This is computer learning, not artificial intelligence.

David is the ultimate tale of our own morality as well as the need to understand our mortality. As children, we have a devotion to our parents. It is complete and stalwart. They are the most important things in our entire lives. However, after a time, we began rebelling. We find independence and grow physically as well as mentally. Our thoughts become our own, we develop new friends and loves whether our parents approve or not. And, should they die, we mourn their loss but find ways of moving on. Sadness is the great healer, and we have the grace of knowing our time is finite. David has been denied all of these things.

We have given David no tools to grow. The eternal child will forever yearn for their parents. David’s last wish, to see his mother, is the proving ground for this ever-present need. When we see the room full of other Davids, he also loses his uniqueness. He is slammed with facts that cannot possibly make sense. His love is a program, his time will be unending, and his fears will all come true. That we would put this burden on a creature of our own making shows the real threat comes directly from the creator. Become a god and become deaf to the suffering of your creations.

How It Holds Up Today
Warner Bros. / Dreamworks

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence is, in essence, a fairytale. It can trace itself to the story of Pinocchio but with the modern twist and pain of a heart-stealing drama. David is tragedy personified. He does not get to walk with Geppetto and see the world. He sees the world and learns that there is a Geppetto, one who puts his own dreams before those of his son. It resonates no matter when you watch it.

The film’s visuals remain beautiful, with a mix of practical and CGI effects. The actors are perfectly cast, and the scope of the film is massive. Spielberg’s ability to take Kubrick’s vision and turn it into something uniquely his own is supremely obvious, and it makes the world more human, more lived in, and gives it a heart that Kubrick may not have been able to bring to the table.