In fact, the whole movie is developed around the proposition: what kind of artificial intelligence is truly human intelligence.
Now that we are discussing how to test artificial intelligence, the famous Turing test is naturally inaccessible. Therefore, the first dialogue between the male protagonist Caleb and the robot Ava in the movie is a typical Turing test. The male protagonist acts as the proactive party, trying to induce the other person to think and examine the behavior of the other person like a human. To put it bluntly, This is not a dialogue, but an interrogation. But this conversation alone is amazing in terms of artificial intelligence, because Ava, as a robot, has a mentality of resistance. When Ava introduced herself to her age, she just said "One.", and Caleb wanted to determine whether it was a year or a day, Ava refused to answer, although I couldn't guess the reason.
But the Turing test alone is obviously not enough. Conversation does not mean anything. It may also be simulated. It only uses massive calculations to find the most likely sentence from thousands of conversations. For the meaning of the dialogue, the robot may not know at all. It's like memorizing an ancient poem. The other person says the last sentence and you take the next sentence, not because you want to express something, but just because you know the next sentence is the correct answer. Of course, Caleb used chess to express the same meaning.
But how to measure whether artificial intelligence really thinks like a human, or is just memorizing and reciting, Caleb obviously can’t find a good way. He can only assign Ava more difficult tasks in the second dialogue, such as drawing. painting. But this time Ava once again reacted beyond Caleb's imagination: Ava began to turn his back on the subject, and took the initiative to ask Caleb questions, turning the interrogated person into the interrogator. This is obviously far beyond what the Turing test can handle.
OK, we can be sure that Ava knows the meaning of the dialogue, but the most critical part is how to detect that Ava has human-like feelings. Yes, the robot knows the meaning of the dialogue, but does it know the purpose of the dialogue? We know what we are talking about and why we say that is obviously different.
So there is the third dialogue. In the same way, Caleb still doesn't know how to find the answer to the question. The answer is provided to Caleb by Ava himself: the purpose of the dialogue between Ava and Caleb is to express his liking for Caleb and hope Caleb will like him. This is considered to be the highest level of discussion of artificial intelligence. The typical example is the previous movie "She". But the ambition of the screenwriter is more than that.
Caleb is really good. He immediately discovered two problems in this test: The first question is whether it is necessary for the robot to maintain a human appearance? A box will do. You can fall in love with words. This leads to the second key question, how did Ava's flirting behavior come about? Is it required by the program? Here, the argument between Nathan and Caleb is very interesting. It deeply explores that the key to human beings rather than machines is that humans make judgments and choices based on feelings, rather than rationality.
At this stage of the plot, for Caleb, his focus is no longer testing artificial intelligence. But this is where the screenwriter is smart, because for Nathan, the test is still going on. In fact, when Caleb turned on Nathan's computer and discovered Nathan's research images, what really shocked me, this audience, was the fact that Nathan had long known that Ava had human feelings, and Nathan himself had done many tests. Since he can do the test himself, why did he trick Caleb into it?
Obviously, Nathan's ambition is not small, and such a test still fails to meet his requirements. He wants to seek a further breakthrough, and what is this breakthrough? Ava quickly gave an answer: true artificial intelligence not only has human feelings, but also knows how to evoke the feelings of the other party and use them through disguise. This is the ultimate artificial intelligence, the result that Nathan dreams of seeing, and the point of view that the producer hopes to convey.
After talking about what the movie wants to express, let's talk about how the movie is expressed. As a brain-burning film with a philosophical discussion theme, it is actually easy for the audience to fall asleep, so the film needs skills. The method of "Machine Ji" is to add suspense to the story. In fact, "Intruder" uses the same trick, but "Mechanical Ji" is obviously better. There are very few cold spots in the whole film, and there is always a wave of waves where you feel calm. For example, the two conversations between Caleb and Ava I listed above suddenly gave you an unexpected surprise in peace. There are other weird villas that live in isolation. The boss who drinks and talks nonsense in the living room in the middle of the night suddenly loses power and locks the door, not to mention Ava's warning. All of this has a weird breath.
But the tense atmosphere is not consistent, there will always be one or two relaxing phases. For example, Caleb came to the villa with a holiday mood, but suddenly wanted to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The boss said that he had a huge secret to tell. This is the first point of tension in the plot. But after signing the agreement, Caleb knew that it was a Turing test, and the atmosphere eased again, and he immediately entered the state of research and development. But this calm atmosphere was broken by the boss’s “I’m not holding a seminar” and Ava’s warning, “Don’t believe Nathan”. The boss's irritable temper towards Kyoko and his claim to kill people add to Caleb's anxiety.
In short, the producer's grasp of the suspenseful atmosphere of "Robot Ji", the control of the rhythm, and the technique of uncovering the secrets like an onion are much better than "Intruder".
Finally, talk about Nathan and Ava.
For Nathan, the biggest mystery is why he conducts this kind of death test. In fact, Nathan's test is actually paradoxical. If Ava succeeds in instigating Caleb, then the test is successful, but Ava is also very likely to escape, because Nathan has to face two human opponents who are no less intelligent than him. If Ava does not succeed in instigating Caleb, then the test fails, and Nathan re-improves the artificial intelligence and continues the test until the previous situation occurs. In other words, Nathan is actually conducting a very dangerous test. It requires not only wisdom but also luck to ensure that Ava does not run away.
Since it is so dangerous, why does he go on? There are actually answers in the movie. When Nathan and Caleb were chatting, they used ancient humans to compare the pessimistic future of human beings once artificial intelligence appeared. Obviously, Nathan knew the consequences. But he still made Ava. The reason he has said himself is that the emergence of artificial intelligence is a necessity, not a whimsical decision. Variables only appear when, not whether they should appear or not. If there is an opportunity to create artificial intelligence and create a legend in front of you, why would you not be tempted to try it?
In fact, some human behaviors will not die if they don’t die, such as Antarctic expeditions and climbing Mount Everest. Does it have any specific meaning? At that time, it could not be said, the only explanation was to challenge the limits of human beings. The creation of artificial intelligence is the ultimate challenge for scientists, how can you give up lightly?
Regarding Ava, many people's interpretation of her final decision is that Ava calculated Caleb and deliberately eliminated Caleb in order to keep her robot secret. I do not think so. Ava did use Caleb, but it was far from getting rid of him. Otherwise, there is no need to go and ask Caleb "Are you going to stay here?" Ava's performance just shows that she doesn't care about Caleb, and proves that her previous good intentions are all false. . Caleb is leaving, Ava may not stop him.
View more about Ex Machina reviews
