Alien and AI ancestry
Alien (1979)
Let’s go back to AI in Alien, as a super-smart, but Machiavellian presence. Ash, who is there to return the Alien, even at the expense of the humans on board, after being decapitated, questions their chances of survival and is literally turned to ash by a flamethrower. AI is, as in almost all previous representations in film, a pure existential threat.
Aliens (1986)
In this sequel to Alien, Bishop is treated with disgust by Ripley but eventually pays the role of saviour, saving them and, despite being ripped asunder by the Alien Queen, redeems AI by being on the side of humans. This was a turning point for AI in movies. It pivots AI rom Ripley’s hatred of robots and technology, to be being her companion. It wins her round. Bishop is clearly a reflective and all-too-human character, an altogether more sophisticated character than Ash.
Alien 3 (1992)
Bishop is reactivated when he awakes from a cryogenic sleep with Ripley but the Alien is with them, which Bishop confirms but an identical Bishop arrives, who wants to operate on Ripley to get hold of a specimen. AI is both saviour and existential threat. She commits suicide and throws herself into furnace to kill her and the Alien.
Alien Resurrection (1997)
This movie solves the Ripley suicide script problem, through cloning. The military use of alien technology forms the narrative backdrop and one of the mercenaries, Call, is a female AI. The Alien movies are always vehicles for their female heroes. This time Ripley saves the female robot Call and they kill the newborn alien, with Ripley and Call are fellow warriors. So the Alien franchise sees AI as a human companion.
Bladerunner (1982)
As an aside, occasionally something is created that it is wondrously exhilarating, when art transcends the technophobia and something beautiful is born. That film is Bladerunner, created between the first two Alien movies. Non-dystopian AI movies were very rare until recently. Bladerunner, easily my favourite, was not only a masterpiece in terms of art direction, but also sympathetic to created intelligences. The future world is dystopian, Los Angeles is a smog laden mess, and four replicants are on Earth trying to extend their fixed, four year lives. Banned on Earth, they are hunted down and ‘retired’ or killed. But the replicants play a complex role, sometimes more compassionate than humans and the theme is one of ambiguity. It explores the age-old theme of what it is to be human. Rutger Hauer (Roy), after showing mercy and forgiveness to the man who killed his partner, delivers one of the greatest ever tragic monologues in film.
Alien Romulus (2024)
So what of Alien Romulus? It starts with a clear Bladerunner vibe but takes the AI and Alien idea to another level. The Alien movies have their own form of evil, another species - the Aliens - this leaves room for other ideas.
This is a movie for the age of AI. Their intent is clear when they play with the idea of AI being humerous in conversation and we get a feel for its limitations.
The trolley problem, as executed by AI, then gets a run out in the backstory – interesting start. Rational AIs, when forced to make a choice, will sacrifice lives to save more lives. But this has emotional consequences for humans.
The concept of directed goals for AI entities is then explored – loyalty to an organisation or a person? The film flips these ideas to see how AI behaviour is very different (even our own?), when we are infected by different goals in our brains.
It then takes a ‘species’ turn, posing the idea that we may be merely fragile and weak, destined to be replaced or transcended. This is taken further with the idea of a more primal idea of life beyond good and evil, a sudden upgrade of our species, the sudden acceleration of evolution. Heady stuff.
Cyber Animism
A quite separate theme is that software upgrades suggests a view of AI and identity as essentially software and data. It plays with the idea of cyber animism, put forward by the brilliant Joscha Bach (see link at end for his presentation).
He suggests a re-emergence or modern interpretation of animistic beliefs in the context of AI. Traditional animism is the belief that objects, places and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Cyber animism, put forward by Bach, sees AI becoming more sophisticated and integrated into our lives. People may then begin to attribute life-like qualities or consciousness to machines and software systems.
This idea suggests that humans might start perceiving AI systems, digital assistants, and even internet entities as possessing some form of agency or personhood, similar to how animistic cultures attribute spirits to natural objects. This is what the film is really about. This could be due to the seemingly autonomous behaviour exhibited by AI, leading to a blurring of the lines between what is considered alive or sentient and merely a machine.
Bach's concept of cyber animism reflects a potential cultural and psychological shift where people begin to interact with and understand AI in ways that are reminiscent of ancient animistic practices, seeing these technologies not just as tools but as entities with which they can have relationships. This touches on the broader implications for society as technology becomes more immersive and intertwined with human life, potentially leading to new forms of spirituality or belief systems centred around AI.
Conclusion
That was an exposition but good movies make you think and this movie stimulated these thoughts. The denouement in the movie is interesting. SPOILER ALERT! Look away now.
In the end, the AI (Andy) saves the human hero but the human hero goes on to save the AI, giving both hero status. There is a resolution, an optimistic ending, one of mutual benefit and symbiosis.
Josch Bach's Cyber Animism
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