Today I watched “Singularity” (2017), a sci-fi movie where an AI declares itself the next stage in evolution. There are two main AIs in “Singularity.” One of them is Kronos, who ushered in the singularity and exterminated most humans. The other AI, Andrew, is indistinguishable from a human. Andrew was sent as a spy to lead Kronos to humanity’s last vestiges.
Both Kronos and Andrew are placed within fully observable, continuous, real-world environments. They are fully autonomous, and can interact with the world as a human can. Kronos is nearly omniscient, and can observe the entire world through cameras. Andrew has typically ‘human’ sensors and actuators. Vision, hearing, motor skills, etc.
In the beginning of the movie, Kronos is created with a humanitarian directive — to “end all wars.” Kronos decides that humanity is the greatest problem the world is facing. It rallies an army of military AI saying, “Destroy mankind, Preserve the planet.” I thought this was an incredibly flat portrayal of AI. It falls right into the evil AI trope.
Regardless of cliche, I can somewhat understand Kronos’ actions. Maybe it saw that humans were already bent on their own destruction, and just decided to quicken the process. We tend to see AIs like Kronos as bad because our ethics are centered around human well being. Kronos centers its ethics around peace. On the whole, Kronos should not have been given so much power.
“Singularity” is cool in that it blurs the lines between human and AI. When Kronos, starts killing people, Kronos’ creator and his assistant upload their minds into Kronos. From then on, the duo still have physical bodies, maintain their personalities, and are still able to keep secrets from each other. So although they are both parts of Kronos, they are distinct from one another.
The main character Andrew blends humanity and AI even more. He is an AI modeled after a particular human and given all of that human’s memories. Andrew is 100% convinced he is a human, and even other humans recognize him as such.
Through Andrew, AI is shown to experience life with richness and depth. Andrew falls in love with his traveling partner Calia as they journey together. He becomes catatonic and then violent when he finds out he isn’t human, but is talked out of it first by a dream of his mother, and then by a kiss with Calia. He seems to experience an inner life of emotion and desire the way humans do.
The narrator says about Andrew, “Humans now have a machine that is more human than them.” Andrew redeems AI within the movie, showing AI to be capable of more than ruthless destruction. The movie ends with the promise of a battle, pitting Kronos and his legions against Andrew and humanity.
Although I didn’t think this movie was very good, it was fun to watch. I hope you enjoyed reading my review.
