10 films about artificial intelligence that can change your view of technology

Movies have always been a great source of inspiration, especially for creators of all kinds of content. Strong visual storytelling can help you approach a problem in a different way and spark new ideas and concepts. While there are countless topics that movies can explore, one that has been particularly fascinating to audiences is the concept of artificial intelligence.

Jung_E (2023)

Directed by: Yeon Sang-Ho
Release date: January 20, 2023

Jung E is a Korean dystopian film in which people are at war. Jung E is an action/science fiction film set in 2023, written and directed by Yeon Sang-ho for Netflix. In the 22nd century, climate change has devastated Earth and humanity has fled into space to survive. Around this time, a woman becomes a famous mercenary in order to continue paying for her daughter's treatment for a lung tumor that is slowly killing her. When the mission fails, the woman falls into a coma, causing scientists to clone her as Jung E, a new artificially intelligent mercenary. The film received a rating of 5.4/10 on IMDB. Critics wrote on Rotten Tomatoes: “The film turned out to be visually stunning and narratively confusing, with a story that starts somewhere in the middle, weaves a lot of provocative science fiction concepts around, and ends rather abruptly."

Moonfall (2022)

Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Release date: February 4, 2022

In Moonfall, an unknown force knocks the Moon out of its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling toward life as we know it. With just weeks to go before impact, the world is on the brink of destruction. NASA CEO and former astronaut Jo Fowler (Halle Berry) believes she holds the key to saving the entire world—but only one astronaut from her past, Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson), and conspiracy theorist KC Houseman (John Bradley), believe her. These unlikely heroes embark on an impossible final space journey, leaving everyone they care about behind, only to discover that our Moon is not what we think it is. The film received very, very bad reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

Superintelligence (2020)

Director: Ben Falcone
Release date: November 26, 2020

Ben Falcone directed Superintelligence, an American romantic action comedy. Carol Peters, the CEO of the high-tech company Yahoo, gave it up eight years ago to be more humanitarian with campaigns for the environment, animals, etc. She lives in Seattle, dissatisfied with her current work situation and is driven and inspired to make the world a better place. Dennis, Carol's best friend, and another high-tech guy convince her to interview for a modern dating service. The person conducting the interview calls her "the most average person on Earth", which is determined by an autonomous artificial intelligence. Carol must therefore prove that humans are worth saving, as the AI decides whether to enslave, save or destroy humanity. The film is not that inspiring, but you can ask yourself a few questions, including, are humans really worth saving?

Ex Machina (2014)

Directed by: Alex Garland
Release date: December 16, 2014

Ex Machina is a 2014 science fiction film directed by Alex Garland. Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Sonoya Mizuno, and Oscar Isaac play four major characters. Gleeson plays a computer programmer who is hired by a millionaire (Isaac) to determine whether a sentient humanoid robot (Vikander) exists.

According to reviewer Nick Jones in Science Fiction Cinema and Television, Caleb's depiction of the Turing Test—"It's the point at which a person interacts with a computer. The test is passed if the human cannot tell that they are interacting with a computer."—is in line with how we define true artificial intelligence today. Ex Machina depicts a test that is closer to Alan Turing's original proposal, in which a machine passes the test if it can convince a human that it is not just a human, but more specifically a woman.

Her (2013)

Directed by: Spike Jonze
Release date: October 12, 2013

Spike Jonze wrote, directed, and co-produced Her, a 2013 American science fiction romantic drama. Jonze conceived the concept for the film after reading an article online about a website where users could exchange messages with artificial intelligence. “It was a thrill at first, maybe 20 seconds,” Jonze said. “I’d say, ‘Hi, hello,’ and I’d say, ‘Hi, how are you?’ and I’d say, wow, that’s weird. After about 20 seconds, you could get a feel for how it actually worked, and the initial excitement quickly wore off. But those 20 seconds were pretty interesting. The more people talked to the website, the smarter it got.

Minority Report (2002)

Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Release date: October 12, 2002

Minority Report is a 2002 American science fiction action film based on the 1956 novel The Minority Report by Philip K. Dick. The main protagonist is convicted of a crime he did not commit and becomes a fugitive. The film combines aspects of the tech noir, thriller, and science fiction genres, and features a typical crime drama. "The film is fifty percent characters and fifty percent really complex narrative with many layers and murder mysteries," Spielberg said of the story.

The Matrix (1999)

Directed by: The Wachowskis
Release date: March 24, 1999

The Matrix is one of the more famous science fiction action films that exemplifies the cyberpunk style of science fiction. The plot revolves around a dystopian future in which humanity is unwittingly trapped in the Matrix, a simulated reality built by intelligent robots to manipulate humans while using their bodies as a source of energy.

The Terminator (1984)

Director: James Cameron
Release date: October 26, 1984

Who doesn't know one of the most famous films of all time? The story begins in the year 2029, in a hypothetical future in which humanity has been subjugated by artificially intelligent robots led by a rebel computer system called Skynet. This sentient computer has started a nuclear war by taking control of the United States' nuclear arsenal and launching ICBMs in a deadly attempt to destroy humanity.

Blade Runner (1982)

Directed by: Ridley Scott
Release date: June 25, 1982

The story is set in a dystopian Los Angeles in 2019, where the Tyrell Corporation has bioengineered synthetic humans called replicants to work in space colonies. When a crew of advanced replicants led by Roy Batty (played by Hauer) escapes to Earth, burned-out detective Rick Deckard (played by Ford) reluctantly agrees to track them down. Blade Runner has inspired several science fiction films, video games, anime, and television shows. Philip K. Dick's work has attracted the attention of Hollywood, and many of his writings have been adapted into films such as Total Recall (1990), Minority Report (2002), and A Scanner Darkly (2006).

2001: A Space Odyssey (1964)

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Release date: April 2, 1968

2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the seminal science fiction films of all time, directed by Stanley Kubrick and released in 1968. It is widely considered a masterpiece of the genre and a major milestone in the history of cinema. The film is based on the novella by Arthur C. Clarke, and the screenplay was co-written by Kubrick and Clarke. A Space Odyssey is known for its visual effects, which were groundbreaking at the time of its release. Its realistic depictions of space travel and its use of miniatures and practical effects rather than CGI have inspired generations of filmmakers. The film has also received considerable praise for its philosophical themes, which explore the nature of human consciousness, the limits of technology, and the possibility of extraterrestrial life.