The Creator: Is AI Really Our Enemy?

The 2023 film The Creator boasts of a stellar cast and a riveting story. It is a science-fiction thriller that reimagines the world with more AI involvement. The film stars John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Ken Watanabe and Allison Janney. 

Gareth Edwards who worked on Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story produced and directed the film. The Creator has been positively received and this is mostly for its production and directing. The story on the other hand has been heavily critized. While critics are not fond of the film’s story, it does ask very important questions about a range of things, particularly on the perception of AI. 

What Is The Creator About?

The Creator‘s story kicks off with a bombing event in Los Angeles in 2055, which is said to have been caused by AI. This triggers a war between America and their allies against most of Asia where AI is still heavily utilized and peacefully exists among humans. John David Washington is a soldier who is tasked with recovering and destroying the superweapon created by AI that has been created to end the war and destroy the NSS NOMAD- a space station that is capable of destroying any weapons from anywhere in the world. His decision to go on this mission is driven by finding his wife, who he believed was dead. 

During his mission, he learns that the superweapon is a child. He also gets clearer insight into the state of the AI-human conflict. The Creator asks a lot of questions and exposes the tool of propaganda for the furtherance of war. At the core of the story, it asks a very important question that is relevant in today’s changing world, is AI really our enemy? 

The Creator is Sympathetic to AI

The Creator does not hide its sympathies for AI. It presents this group as an oppressed, dehumanized and undervalued part of society. The war in the film is one they are tired of and just want to lead peaceful lives alongside their human counterparts. The film might be futuristic but with the rising popularity and equally rising fear about AI, this is an important conversation that should be happening. 

In the past year, there has been an increase in the number of publicly available AI tools. Chat-GPT is one of the more popular ones, and is less than a year old, but in the short time that it has existed, there has been rising hysteria about its usage. This is particularly in regard to its overhauling of jobs. What The Creator has done is present a version of the future where this fear turns into the oppression of AI. At the same predicting a situation where AI upon reaching consciousness would want to exist as people-free and independent. There have been arguments that the film takes a stand for AI not people, this sentiment is driven by the same it’s either them or us rhetoric. A rhetoric that the film rejects. 

What Is the Relationship Between AI and Humans in The Creator?

Throughout the film, we see a dichotomy in AI-human relations. This dichotomy is defined by which side of the war you are part of. In the West, with the US as the leading power, the relationship is driven by anger and fear as defined by the Los Angeles bombing. An event that was revealed to be caused by human error. On the other hand, in “New Asia” as defined in the film as the regions in the present East, South and Southeast Asia, where AI still has a stronghold, the relationship between AI and humans is with minimal conflict. AI till the land, serve as law enforcement and are allowed to have romantic and familial relationships with other human beings.

The evolution of the relationship which resulted in what was present in these regions is exemplified with with relationship of the two characters. When the film starts John David Washington’s career kept referring to AI as just programming. By the time the film ends, and after spending a significant amount of time with the oppressed class of AI, he changes his stance. This leads to him being an integral part of their eventual liberation. In the real world, AI is still in its nascent years, it would be interesting to see which way the relationship between AI and Humans goes as the technology evolves.