Questions And Lessons From "I, Robot" (2004)

It's the year 2035, and the society now has the help of robots. These robots follow three laws integrated into their system; 1) They cannot harm a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2)They must do whatever they're told by a human being as long as such orders don't conflict with law one. 3) They have to defend themselves as long as such defense doesn't conflict with laws one or two. One day, the writer of the three laws, Alfred Lanning, apparently jumps out of a window at U.S. Robotics. The majority of the Chicago Police Department believe he committed suicide, but Detective Del Spooner, who hates robots, thinks he was murdered, and the number one suspect is a robot who calls himself Sonny. However, if it was Sonny, then it means he would've had to have broken the three laws. With the help of Dr. Susan Calvin, Spooner must now discover the truth before it's too late.

— Synopsis by Ridley Lavine

Pick something from I, Robot that sticks out to you.

Davis's answer:

• The robots in I, Robot don’t seem to have the ability of personal, uninstructed thought, nor the ability to feel emotion. However, they speak, move, and act in a human manner, and they have a human form. These aspects help humans look past the absence of emotion and relate to the robots, often giving them names or referring to them as “he/she/they” rather than “it.” Despite their human relatability, their apparent lack of consciousness and self-awareness makes them distinctly not human. That’s where the main robot, Sonny, comes in. Sonny can think and feel. Sonny knows he’s a robot and that he’s different from the others. The laws of robotics coded into each robot in the world of I, Robot do not hold sway over Sonny—he has free will.

Hailey's answer:

• In the movie, "I, Robot" the ultimate goal was to insight fear about developing AI technology. One moment of this attempt at persuasion that caught my eye was the concept that the robot, Sonny, was able to dream. When Will Smith first encounters the robot, he mentions his ability to dream. Later in the movie, when the Doctor, Susan Calvin, played by Bridget Moynahan approaches the robot after it has been detained. She asks him a question multiple times but gets no reply. When it finally does answer, and she questions why it remained silent, it claims "I was dreaming." Their world was very highly based on artificial intelligence systems, specifically that resembled human qualities and characteristics, but none of which dreamt. Some of the systems were able to display accurate emotions based on the situation, and act as close to humanly as possible in the right context, but dreaming was too human of a characteristic for the robots to have. Sonny being able to dream would be like the equivalent of finding out animals have been telepathically communicating with each other the whole time, in that world it made the robot more than just a robot, when it still wasn't quite human.

What does this prove and how?

Davis's answer:

• Sonny’s character proves to me that AI can achieve a state of “humanity,” in which we won’t be able to think of our technology as simply a machine. Already people refer to Apple’s Siri, the Google Assistant, or Amazon’s Alexa as “she,” yet these are rudimentary AIs without human forms or emotions, or human-level intelligence—only the ability to speak and listen to us. Sonny’s condition presents the argument that being human is not necessarily a physical state but a mental one. When you look at Sonny it’s clear that he is a machine. Despite this, the way he acts and emotes makes it difficult to see him as non-human. If he has the same thoughts and feelings as we do, why should we treat him any differently?

Hailey's answer:

• What this was trying to prove from my perspective was the question of what makes a human? What is the distinguishing quality that designates that something or someone is human and something else is not? A lot of these robots were systems with the correct abilities to blend into a crowd of people, if given the right visual makeover. If something can do all the same functions as a human, why isn't it considered one? Through showing Sonny as more than just a machine made to complete a task, and causing Will Smith and Dr. Calvin to question what it was at the basis of its nature, it moved to prove the point that it is incredibly hard to define a human being. Sonny talks about its ability to dream, and addresses its concerns with Calvin about fixing it, and figuring out "what is wrong." Sonny itself had a feeling of displacement and confusion. It understood that it was not like its fellow artificial intelligence systems, nor was it exactly the humans that had created it.

Describe how this moment threatens you.

Davis's answer:

• This moment does not threaten me, per-se, but it does make me think. Firstly, I wonder if our own technology will ever get to the point of perfect human emulation. The best human-like AI we have now is Hanson Robotics’ Sophia—who, in contrast to Sonny, can’t even wink properly. Aside from the not-so-important ability to wink, Sophia does not have thoughts or feelings. Most of the time she’s simply following a pre-programmed script for whatever event she may be attending, as her automated reactive responses are generally nonsensical and delayed.

Hailey's answer:

• For me, this is the threat that as we are developing these incredibly intelligent, complex, artificial intelligence systems, we do need to consider what it is to be a human. In my opinion, this is something that is hard to define, because if it is about being able to form complex relationships, be free-thinking to the point of being able to dream, Sonny's ability to do all of that created a new dilemma. Having robots that are basically human would create a whole new facet to the way the world worked.

How would you resolve this threat?

Davis's answer:

• Given that I don’t see human-level AI as a threat—especially in the case of Sonny where he helps fight off evil AI—I’m not going to write about how we should “resolve the threat.” I believe that AI such as Sonny will be extremely helpful to humanity. Asimov’s laws of robotics, while outdated (they’re almost 80 years old) and purposely flawed, are a good starting point for autonomous robots. If there is any one threat we need to resolve, it would be the non-autonomous AI that we are so familiar with today. The primary threat with many of the existing malicious AI is that it harms via information. There is no physical harm done, which is what Asimov’s laws prevent, but there is emotional and financial damage. Without updating these laws (assuming they would ever be used in reality), AI would be free to hack into bank accounts, steal identities, vandalize property, etc.—all without physically harming a single person.

Hailey's answer:

• The problem we would need to solve is our own internal need to define creatures, and put everything into a box. If these robots are basically humans perfected, what is the issue with a rise in their existence? There will be damage to the human ego, but if they are more efficient, and conscious conductors, they should be utilized. Socially, it would be complex, however, it would be similar to advancements in our human issues today. This would be something that would be hard to understand for many people, similar to issues today like being transgender, or gay. Some people just don’t understand, but that doesn’t make them negative things. It seems threatening, however, it would be something that would begin to fit into society. Just as guidelines have been developed to accommodate humans of all kinds, there would be guidelines to accommodate robot-humans. Proper terms would be determined, and the right way to treat them would also be figured out. Like with many aspects of artificial intelligence, the fear is stemming from not understanding, or not being able to designate something as either black or white.

How does this apply to you?

Davis's answer:

• I, Robot offers two opposing messages about AI. In Viki, we are warned of the dangers of AI—specifically the dangers of making them too intelligent or giving them too much power. In Sonny, on the other hand, we are shown how AI can benefit humanity and work alongside us. Sonny teaches us to remain hopeful of what AI may do in the future, while Viki teaches us to not be overly reliant on AI. Deepfakes and AI-generated art, which have both been covered on this blog, have a similar duality. Deepfakes have a history of malicious usage and AI-generated art brings the worry of human artists being replaced. However, both also have a place in the world. They can both be used to greatly increase production speed for human artists, and AI-generated art has such a unique look to it that it will surely be inspiration for painters of the near future.

Hailey's answer:

• This movie demonstrates two main concepts to me: the rise of Artificial Intelligence as a beneficial system, and the human fear of any kind of control outside of themselves. While I, Robot was made to insight fear, I feel that it also demonstrates a deeper concept: humans feel that our lives are so valuable, nothing else could compare. If a robot were killing off the population because otherwise the environment is being destroyed, people would sacrifice the environment over human life. I think this movie helps blur the lines of what does it mean to be human? As we are looking at so many new incredibly intelligent artificial life forms, we have to consider all aspects of their existence from a non-human standpoint- all the positive and negative aspects. AI can be threatening, but it depends on what your perspective is about it. In the artwork AI’s they are raising the question of what is art? And can AI systems create true art? Being open minded and considering all prospects of the system is something that I would apply to my own artistic life if ever dealing with AI.

Questions taken from our English course.