Robot rising: 6 smart movies about artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence has been a hot topic in the wake of ChatGPT’s release late last year. This AI chatbot has prompted many fears around humanity’s rapid adoption of technology without seeking to understand the social implications first. While assistive in nature, the supervised and reinforced learning technology has the power to disrupt many industries currently reliant on human beings.

Now entering a paradigm where AI has seemingly unlimited capacity and versatility, it seems like only a matter of time before this technology’s impact is felt on economies. We're already in a space where robots are being integrated into manufacturing and services, and so the intermeshing of reality and digital suggests that we’re much closer to sentient humanoids and intelligence than we ever dreamed possible. While the AI debate rages on, these 6 entertaining films have immediate social relevance and take the AI conversation a step further.

Matrix Resurrections

The Matrix delves into a dystopian future where humans are unknowingly incapacitated and used as an energy source to fuel a machine-dominated reality. The breathtakingly innovative and original sci-fi actioner from the Wachowskis set in motion a trilogy, now rebooted in the aptly titled Matrix Resurrections. Set 60 years after the events of The Matrix Revolutions, Anderson is now a visionary video game designer who has trouble separating reality from fantasy. When he’s freed, the One must help rescue Trinity from a new enemy.

Spurred by the Keanu Reeves renaissance, the John Wick actor reprises his famed role as Thomas Anderson and Neo opposite Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity. Brandishing epic action sequences, self-references and pristine visual effects, Matrix Resurrections serves as an intricate, stellar and timely commentary on the here and now.

The Truth About Killer Robots

When a robot crushed a 21-year-old man to death at a Volkswagen manufacturing plant in Germany, the incident made international headlines. Breaking Asimov’s first law of robotics, the news story reignited the debate that humanity may be over-reliant on machines and technology. The Truth About Killer Robots continues this line of investigation, divided into Manufacturing, Services and Final Displacement.

A humanoid robot host narrates, facial recognition identifies interviewees and the documentary covers a number of contentious issues raised from driverless car accidents, robotic legal firms, bomb disposal robots being used to kill. Capturing elements from Blade Runner to Lars and the Real Girl, this eerie, introspective and surreal documentary discusses the proliferation of AI and robots in modern society.

Anon

Seasoned in science fiction, Anon comes from the mind of Andrew Niccol, the screenwriter behind Gattaca, S1mone and The Truman Show. Anon takes place in a futuristic world where absolute transparency means there’s no privacy or crime with everyone’s life on record. When a detective stumbles onto the existence of a young woman, the discovery reveals Girl’s lack of identity and history makes her a danger - invisible to authorities.

Anon stars Clive Owen and Amanda Seyfried, a multi-dimensional sci-fi crime drama with parallels to Minority Report, Strange Days and The Final Cut. Anon entertains the concept of a mind hacker, re-edited timelines and is self-reflective in its examination of privacy and our digitised lives. In an archived reality, the elegant visuals blend retro chic against the digital ether to create a detailed, curious and stylish film experience.

Ex Machina

When the world’s largest internet company hosts a competition to spend a week at a reclusive CEO’s private mountain retreat with no strings attached, think twice. For 26-year-old programmer Caleb, it’s not so much about the sights and sounds of Nathan’s sleek residence in what could be Jurassic Park, it’s more about meeting Ava. Evaluating a “robot girl”, the programmer conducts the Turing Test to establish whether the AI machine exhibits enough intelligent human behaviour to fool another human being.

Starring Domnhall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac and Alicia Vikander, this dark and surreal sci-fi thriller steps beyond the curtain to create a provocative and thoughtful tension between human emotion and synthetic intelligence. Sleek and unsettling, Alex Garland’s nightmarish vision makes an engrossing, smart and timely exploration.

Singularity

When VA Industries CEO Elias van Dorne unleashes an all-powerful AI supercomputer, the world becomes a battlefield. As soon as Kronos goes online, it determines humanity is the single biggest threat to the planet and wages an all-out attack in an age when most households have a robot. A century later, after 8 billion lives have been lost, a small band of survivors tries to find the last remaining human outpost as a robot army traces their every step.

Starring John Cusack and Julian Schaffner, this vivid action adventure sci-fi thriller recalls Avatar with its depiction of a world almost completely void of humans. Aimed at young adults, Singularity ventures into a post-apocalyptic future, integrating dark sci-fi elements from Terminator and The Hunger Games.

Robot Apocalypse

When scientists discover their artificial intelligence system has started to write its own code, it’s too late to stop it from infiltrating global military networks. After their efforts to disarm Medusa fail, hackers Tara and Jorge are forced on the run as terrorists, dodging weaponised drones under the command of the rogue AI defence system.

A critical War Games type scenario, this is the futuristic world of Robot Apocalypse as hackers form a human resistance to overthrow Medusa. Starring Noah Jay Wood, Katalina Viteri and Tito Ortiz, this futuristic man vs machine action sci-fi thriller leverages its timely premise to entertain with a barrage of visual effects and lofty sci-fi action adventure.