Ex Machina is a crazy, awesome, creepy, wonderful movie. It is intense from the get-go and you never really know where the movie is going, until the final seen. This is one of my favorite movies ever, not only because of the suspense but also the acting, writing and plot are all equally amazing.
The idea that machines/robots could be almost impossible to detect through conversation is scary. During the Turing test in Ex Machina, Ava is virtually impossible to detect robotic behavior through her answers. Caleb goes as far to eventually even fall in love with Ava as she manipulates the narrative. If we couldn’t tell the difference between AI and humans, it raises many questions in my mind. How would we treat them? Would there be a different set of laws for them? Would our programming prevail, or would they follow their own narrative?
I was even caught taking the side of Ava on many occasions when watching the film and understood why Caleb was so torn. She seemed so genuine in her feelings and you wanted to help her as Caleb did. It wasn’t until she literally locked Caleb in and left that I realized she played everyone like a fiddle. I felt betrayed when she exited the home at the end locking everyone in and leaving the chaos and destruction behind. If so many emotions could be sparked by watching the film, what if we or I was put in a real-life situation with Ava? Would the outcome be different? It would be difficult to remind myself constantly that she was a robot and that she doesn’t have real emotions. It would be difficult to treat someone so like a human like something else. Maybe one day we will have to be faced with the contradictions with the way technology is headed.