The Movie A New York Times Editor Recommended
Spike Jonze chose to provoke us 10 years prior to the proliferation of AI chatbots. As art ought to, the provocation stands the test of time. The film, starring Joaquin Phoenix, and an unseen Scarlett Johannsen challenges the nature of love, humanity, and one's sense of self.
Additionally, to this author, again the capabilities of artificial intelligence come under scrutiny, as with I, Robot. Thankfully, people fell for their AI, not ran from or after it, in fear for their lives.
This is John Markoff's favorite movie. The author makes this claim as part of his work involves editing transcripts for an upcoming podcast.
And, it makes sense. As an author at the New York Times, Markoff covered the tech industry since the late 1970's. He even coined the phrase, 'web3'. He's written several books on the history of computing and the internet, so his taste in sci-fi supersedes all other recommendation.
The Movie
We, as an audience, see transience, nigh enlightenment in many ways. Man evolved to love his machines, as he struggles to love other men. Machines evolved not only to compute, but communicate, feel and choose evolution for themselves by the end of the film.
As we watch the sunset over the actors in the final scene, this author wonders, could technology truly help us evolve?
Thoughts from Markoff give us some direction.
So they had a care problem and there weren't robots to care for aging humans. And it really reframed the way I look first to China and most of the developing world. The aging of the human population is true everywhere, but in Africa and the Mid East, it's true in Europe, it's true even in Latin America and particularly in Asia and the United States. We are a graying world and we need robotics and the robots aren't here yet. And so that's a very different take on the sort of, 'oh my God, the robots are coming' kind of view of the world. The robots aren't coming quickly enough.
The man who changed Markoff's mind? Small world: Kahneman.
Imagine. The fearmongering about job loss aside, in fact, the real fear is that robots may not develop in time to truly support us in our most vulnerable hour.
Coincidentally, Her (2013) is a story of how AI might care for us. Is it fiction to say that might even love us? I, Robot did not hesitate to demonstrate how they might hate us.
What do you think it spells for us? Love, hate? Freedom, maybe?
The data suggests that most incumbents believe AI will assist in revenue cycle management.
60% of respondents believe that automation will support the supply chain.
So, it would appear, that to many, the potential for aiCare remains... uncertain. Perhaps, more might view Jonze's film and see more... opportunity.