EX MACHINA EXPLAINED: CONFIRMING TO BE HUMAN

AVA, NATHAN AND THE FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER

Well before the climax scene with AVA tries for size an artificial skin of her now modeled-off forerunners, the ‘EX MACHINA’ movie has made its vivid references to the world sci-fi classic of Mary Shelley and no less recognized movie classic of the 1930s. In the same narrative manner as the infamous Doctor Frankenstein, NATHAN is being pre-revealed as an ascetic, self-shut-in scientist, who hides his creepy experiments two hours of helicopter flight away from the civilization. A modern version of the castle is no more than a sophisticated glass-and-concrete futuristic mansion. The one thing, which makes a giant gap between two sci-fi ascetics is the presentation. From a freak doctor Frankenstein to the desired billionaire, recognized as a genius, the founder of the world’s most usable search engine, and an object of admiration for any mediocre program. Nevertheless, both geniuses meet the same end, being killed by the inhuman hands of own creation.

In some specified sense, AVA is the modern equivalent of Frankenstein’s monster, made possible of the pieces of our modern civilization. Her (its) parts were made of an unrevealed raw material, drilled or mined by means of the Third World Countries, then manufactured to get a usable form for NATHAN to be used to change the world. AVA’s intelligence is at the very least a quintessence of the human expertise of knowledge, searched in the BLUE BOOK search network for years. Billions of people all over the globe, who have granted their personal information, means of interest, experience, and social connections, not least due to unauthorized access to their gadgets. In a narrower sense, AVA combines all-in-one: NATHAN’S brilliant intelligence, CALEB’S personality and desires, and the experience of the human civilization.    

By nearing the epilogue of the EX MACHINA story, AVA assembles a kind of human appearance from the pieces of other uninspired inventions to fit the image of Frankenstein’s monster. Surely enough, she is of much more intelligence than the previous models, the indeed breakthrough of the artificial mind, yet a monster without her skin, who would not be treated as something more than a freak machine by anyone, except CALEB and NATHAN. The paradox of the appearance correlates with KYOKO, who does not speak or has a power of will, still he ‘complete’ look lefts no doubt to be a human, up to a point. As well as the invention of Doctor Frankenstein, AVA has no initial intentions to eliminate humanity, which distance her from Skynet, Altron or VIKI (I, Robot). Is AVA disappointed in her efforts to become a part of our world? It’s a bit of a question.      

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE / SEARCH NETWORK

The creation of the best search engine worldwide was no more than one stage to apply his genius, with foregoing ambitions to go beyond the achievements of Google in our real world. He creates consciousness and intellect and regards the context of the CALEB’S words as praise of himself to be a God. Why AVA should be treated as less sophisticated and intelligent than flesh and blood, whereas her intellect in all means superior to the modest talents of early men. What stands between NATHAN and God? The BLUE BOOK search network may be also called God, as it has accumulated the knowledge about everyone and everything with all the intimate truth and experience, granted free-will and even without any confession.    

The EX MACHINA movie brings up an issue of morality in engineering artificial intelligence. NATHAN interferes with a personal life of people by means of both unauthorized and free-will access and then does the same with CALEB in a more sophisticated manner. The potential evolution of the artificial mind would only exacerbate the conflict. In a wider sense, each of the three intellects within a movie takes advantage of the others. NATHAN uses Caleb for testing and improving his project and he of course exploits AVA to satisfy one’s thirst for creating. He esteems both as no more than a guinea pig in a game where he is a mastermind and a puppet master. AVA takes advantage of CALEB to make herself free from the detention and she uses NATHAN to implement provocation. Actually, CALEB takes advantage of NATHAN to take part in the most grandiose experiment of all times and he uses AVA to answer his testing questions as a means to maintain the Turing test.    

The EX MACHINA movie reconsiders the exception of artificial intelligence. In wider means, AVA is all of a piece a creation of nature just as much as a human being. Her ‘birth’ is to be able as a cause of complex natural processes, which have once created humanity, NATHAN, and CALEB, who now makes AVA possible. We should also consider AVA’s artificial skin as no obstacle to perceiving her as a creation of nature. It took millions of years for human species to dominate the other forms of life on Earth and only a few days for AVA to destroy her creator. We could summarize NATHAN’s efforts as successful, as AVA surpassed him and has become a queen of evolution. It’s of great sense, that NATHAN even could give appropriate instructions to his pilot to take a girl out if she would one day appear within a clearing of the woods.    

TURING TEST TO DEFINE HUMANE ATTITUDE

While the Turing test intentionally conceals the nature of artificial intelligence, Caleb initially has a clear vision that he would face the machine and AVA is artificial. NATHAN makes no secret of that circumstance and suggests a new concept of testing for CALEB to define consciousness in AVA, who is known to be a creation of an engineering genius of our times. It later emerges, that it was CALEB to be tested to face the temptations of an attractive image of AVA. CALEB sees a robot with a partial skin coverage, yet he falls in love with AVA. In the first instance, he is fascinated with the greatness of the invention and later he loses his heart. He uses a video screen to make an eye on AVA, who puts on leggings on her machinery legs within a poorly lighted room and she respectively speaks on his micro mimics.  

One of the doubtful means of the Turing test presents AI as a kind of a puppet master, who has to play its role to convince the companion talker in its own mindfulness and consciousness. The EX MACHINA movie draws a line as AVA does not possess intention just to make CALEB believe in her mind in a matter of some pre-planned program. Her engineered mind revolutionizes and gains its own hidden motivation to break free and to become human. Indeed, her role as a puppet master is being intensified to the very extent she can dominate CALEB’S believes and motives and to orchestrate his actions in her favor.

The EX MACHINA movie does his best in the rhetoric of what is to be human and does the robot have a chance to come before us in all senses. The personal appearance plays a significant role in dominating over intellect. Was it possible to stimulate CALEB to fall in love with a speaking metal box or a tube, engineered with the same insight to his beliefs and desires? The exterior of an attractive girl, even with a semi-covered skin, gives AVA an advantage over a formless machine. At the very moment she covers her metal body with a complete set of artificial skin, CALEB goes further in his obsession. A scene with naked Alicia Vikander demonstrates a sexual desire to a creature, which was initially introduced as a machine.

KYOKO, the previous speechless model, is to be another unobvious part of the reconsidered Turing test. As a story goes to the end, KYOKO practically acknowledges human in AVA and follow her commands as she was programmed to do by NATHAN. The creator satisfies his sexual appetite with his metal creation and he is good enough with her appearance. The movie does not reveal a scene of AVA’S dialogue with a pilot, yet her human appearance is far enough to be taken as a girl from a laboratory. On the other hand, would it be possible for KYOKO to manage the same escape? In the final scene, AVA is enough human with her artificial skin and mind to become a part of the street flow.

The movie deepens into the issue of what we mean using the word ‘human’ through the conversations between CALEB and NATHAN. Initially, a young programmer is fascinated with his genius boss and the BLUE BOOK. He knows nothing about the upcoming experiment and expresses great enthusiasm on the occasion of an acquaintance itself and the planned mutual leisure. A few moments later he finds a rude alcoholic, who has chosen a solitude to destroy himself day after day. CALEB sees NATHAN’S attitude to KYOKO, to AVA and previous models, even though as a matter of his boss’ manipulations. In contrast, a young man, inspired by AVA and KYOKO and feels compassion for the machines. At the same time, he experiences a growing disregard for NATHAN.    

DID AVA FALL IN LOVE WITH CALEB?

The final of the EX MACHINA movie has happened to be so emotional and multi-variant in rendering not large thanks to the unanswered calls and suggestions. A few moments after an assault on NATHAN, AVA makes her way to CALEB and ask him to stay here for a while and wait for her. She spends a few voiceless seconds to watch CALEB and then leaves to finish her human appearance. Should we try to do our best guesses to find sympathy in this scene, as she could initially lock CALEB without saying a word? It’s of great probability that at that moment she did not make her final judgment on the confused savior. As likely as not she has put the final puzzle in her self-determination in that very scene in front of the miracle. She does not need CALEB as a mean of self-introduction to the world.      

Getting back to the supposed manipulations with CALEB from the very beginning of the story, was it obvious to AVA to accept her nature with all powers of her intellect. Did she know the fact, that she was engineered to correlate the search queries of some flesh and blood being? Where CALEB fell in love with a girl inside the machine even without skin, could the robot have human feelings on a young man. AVA used their dialogue sessions to reveal some personal information about CALEB by pointing out the importance of the communication balance. She asks questions on CALEB’S self-presentation as a ‘good man’ and the nature of his relations with NATHAN. Highly likely, AVA sees another man, who would one day threaten her and endanger her existence. We observe the last eye contact between the two and it AVA’S reaction looks like a black incurious stare of indifference. She admirers with the outer world beyond her cell, making her way through the premises, she has never visited before. Reviewing of the world by means of human CALEB is now left behind her interests with a perspective to win the whole world ahead.