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Ex Machina imagines a robot indistinguishable from man

Molly Wood Apr 9, 2015
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Ex Machina imagines a robot indistinguishable from man

Molly Wood Apr 9, 2015
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Ex Machina, an independent film about artificial intelligence and deadly robots, hits theaters this weekend. And its release won’t be without controversy.

One point of contention: the plot relies heavily on the well-known Turing Test, which is designed to test a robot’s ability to mimic man’s behavior to the extent that it is indistinguishable from a real human being. Without giving too much away, the movie questions what it would mean to create completely autonomous robots, and how it could potentially go very wrong.

“My interest in AI is to do with it superseding us. It’s a sort of evolutionary way of looking at it. We are limited in our potential.”

-Alex Garland, Ex Machina writer and director

Click the media player above to hear Ex Machina writer and director Alex Garland in conversation with Marketplace Tech host Ben Johnson.

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