How Spike Jonze’s ‘Her’ contributes to the recent discussion surrounding AI?
“Cogito ergo sum”
Artificial intelligence (AI) has undoubtedly impacted our lives’; the opinionated reception surrounding the topic may be mixed, however, it will undeniably continue to play a role within the everyday. Arguably, in the foreseeable or even presently, evidence showcases AI taking a sort of agency over itself through personal preservation, with recent news depicting AI ‘copying itself over’ to avoid shutdown.
Spike Jonze’s ‘Her’ explored a subject matter that resided well beyond its personal cadence, following the narrative of Theodore Twombly and his exploration of the new, state-of-the-art ‘Operating System’ (OS); a brand new hyper-intelligent artificial intelligence that prevailed in their own digitalised domain, a domain which dominates human comprehension.
At the time of its cinema release, AI was nowhere near the competence showcased in ‘Her’, with the most relevant proceeding of the concept materialising in NEIL (Never-ending image learner), developed in Carnegie Mellon University. This verity outlines how the ‘OS’ in Her predates pre-conceived notions people would have had on artificial intelligence, however that doesn’t inherently infer to the representation being contrived.
In the film, we shadow the slowly developing relationship between our protagonist, Theodore, and Samantha, an OS. The moments captured on-screen metaphysically blur the lines of a watcher’s conceived interpretation of a traditional relationship; their experiences appear to be intimately raw and sincere, however, the lingering conception that those occurrences are shared between mortal and AI create a conflicting differentiation of appearance and reality.
"Her"(2013) directed by Spike Jonze
Absurdly, the film can be interpreted largely beyond the constraints of seeing at its face value - a human-ai relationship. Though for the sake of this article, the question is this: Would you be bothered or repulsed, in a sense, by an existent human-ai relationship? The question itself feels taboo, however with the evolution of AI, it becomes something to confront.
Jonze’s exemplification of the OS feels slightly thwarted to me; the thoughts and feelings expressed by Samantha are genuine in the realms of cinema, primarily, because I acknowledge that she is being voiced by an actor. However, from the perspective of Theodore, their conversations mimic that of interaction with a real human; she displays a level of compassion and empathy when reacting to the various circumstances Theodore faces throughout the movie. These components form the image in his mind that he possesses a genuine relationship, of which isn’t, to him, any less authentic than that between two corporeal humans and, arguably, is that a valid takeaway?
She thinks, showcasing a broad ability to process Theodore’s emotions, forming answers that beneficially bolster his livelihood to a point where his character from start to end of the movie define an apparent positive difference. This poses a separate view, that her eerie perfection is what prevents from residing on the same plane as humans; she never reaches that plane in a physical sense, however, emotionally, she displays flaws. She misinterprets the desires of Theodore, resulting in conflict. She fails to identify Theodore's abject personal flaws until the end when she leaves him. Arguably, her actions display beyond that of computational codes by others by taking on her own personal agency; she becomes, as a result of her interactions with Theodore.
The OS representation obstructs what we deem as ‘human’, despite what I’ve said, you may, personally, disregard my argument, posing them as an authentic relationship. However, the film may embody a sort of societal fear that may blossom,as we inevitably invest more into AI development. The concept of AI blending amongst the members of our society, whether it's through casual conversation or intimate relation; they may become and co-exist without being. And, whether this is something to resist and welcome is down to us as the mortal unit.
- Jericho Dela Masa
Jonze’s exemplification of the OS feels slightly thwarted to me; the thoughts and feelings expressed by Samantha are genuine in the realms of cinema, primarily, because I acknowledge that she is being voiced by an actor. However, from the perspective of Theodore, their conversations mimic that of interaction with a real human; she displays a level of compassion and empathy when reacting to the various circumstances Theodore faces throughout the movie. These components form the image in his mind that he possesses a genuine relationship, of which isn’t, to him, any less authentic than that between two corporeal humans and, arguably, is that a valid takeaway?
She thinks, showcasing a broad ability to process Theodore’s emotions, forming answers that beneficially bolster his livelihood to a point where his character from start to end of the movie define an apparent positive difference. This poses a separate view, that her eerie perfection is what prevents from residing on the same plane as humans; she never reaches that plane in a physical sense, however, emotionally, she displays flaws. She misinterprets the desires of Theodore, resulting in conflict. She fails to identify Theodore's abject personal flaws until the end when she leaves him. Arguably, her actions display beyond that of computational codes by others by taking on her own personal agency; she becomes, as a result of her interactions with Theodore.
The OS representation obstructs what we deem as ‘human’, despite what I’ve said, you may, personally, disregard my argument, posing them as an authentic relationship. However, the film may embody a sort of societal fear that may blossom,as we inevitably invest more into AI development. The concept of AI blending amongst the members of our society, whether it's through casual conversation or intimate relation; they may become and co-exist without being. And, whether this is something to resist and welcome is down to us as the mortal unit.
- Jericho Dela Masa
