Is the A.I. Life A Game?

To extend our discussion about artificial intelligence, it seems that not much talk is to be had over whether one approves or disapproves of A.I. , considering the fact that they are likely to emerge and to begin to blend into society as has been shown in the various films we’ve watched. In the Most Human Human,  Brian Christian  considers the many defintions of the meaning of life from a human perspective. “Games have a goal; life doesn’t,” is one point that is made clear when he explains what existentialists think. This is interesting to ponder, in my opinion, especially because games and the quest to be human came up quite often in the film, A.I. Artificial Intelligence.

AI Artificial Intelligence is about a robotic boy, named David, who is the first programmed to love, and is adopted as a test case by a family who could benefit since they do not have their son around. “Though he gradually becomes their child, a series of unexpected circumstances make this life impossible for David.” David goes on a long journey to figure out how he can become a real boy in attempts to convince his adopted mom to love him so that he can live with her again. He finds this courage from hearing his mom read the Pinocchio story. He truly gained the desire to be loved seeing that he was capable of love.

David never willingly hurt another human; the innocence he possessed drew up just as much care for him as I’d have for a normal child. In a world in which robots were a normal part of society, do we have moral responsibility to take care of robots (especially when they are in the form of little children and with the capability to love)?  To what extent do we love them back?  In this case, the mom’s real son and husband were not in agreement with keeping David around, so she had to sadly take him away. Was she wrong to abandon one who identified as her son even though he wasn’t a real boy? David wasn’t even stuck on this question, though. He was motivated by love and fulfilling his dream of being happy and loved by his mom. When he was in the home with the family, if David didn’t understand something, he ask, is this a game? Usually it was. When he was being dropped off for good in the woods, he asked if it was a game, and his mom replied, “no” with tears in her eyes. As mentioned earlier, games have an end goal, unlike life, from some perspectives. The end goal of human life, from an existentialist point of view, is determined by humans. This is seemingly one of the distinctions between humans and robots. Going with the idea that humans can determine their end goal, it is obvious that robots cannot. There was a robot named Jo in this film who was created to be a male escort. That was his purpose. The other robots had specific purposes as well and when humans felt like it or were displeased with the robots, referred to as mecha, they were destroyed. David, however, is an exception to this distinction between humans and robots. Fueled by love, David created an end goal for his own life, even though it is artificial.  The struggle to want to be real and chase dreams is the human flaw that made David real, according to his designer. Despite the fact that David was artificial, he grew to be more real than any AI had been. If such advancement is possible…. if an AI can grow to be just as human as a human and determine their own goal, then is their life a game or is it real?