Artificial intelligence is about as hot as a topic can be right now. People have been using platforms like Character AI for some time now, but with the grand unveiling of ChatGPT, AI fears got kicked into high gear, as did the debate engulfing the tech. By all accounts, tech producers have entirely ignored any worries about the tech, with most complaints put down to a lack of understanding of AI’s potential and seeing too many sci-fi films.
Now, we see that Apple has already deployed its own chatbot, Apple GPT, internally, and Hollywood writers and actors remain on strike, partially due to AI. They fear that AI-generated actors could replace them under current contractual agreements, and some studios could end up turning to AI to write stories, movies, and shows. It’s amidst all of this that The Creator will hit the big screen later in 2023, which seems very timely indeed.
Sci-fi, cyber, and AI all thrown into one
Given the rapid development of technology, the rise in the fascination with cyber and cyberpunk aesthetics, and, of course, the use of AI, it’s easy to see where the minds behind The Creator got their creative spark. All of these elements combine into one of the more popular themes going in entertainment right now, both behind the scenes and front-of-house. You can see this in action among the online slots at Betway. For the players who seek the sci-fi cyber gaming experience, they only need to look as far as Cyberslot Megaclusters or Cyber Attack, both of which are drenched in neon blues, pinks, and purples. Focused on the cyber aesthetic and high-tech features to fit the theme, it’s easy to see why the AI software of the site has them ranking so highly. Of course, we could also look at how people are using the free version of ChatGPT to write Twitter threads, generate birthday messages, and even play games with the software.
Still, as The Creator aims to prove, one of the best places for sci-fi, cyber, and AI stories to be told is on the big screen. Although many draw from novels, the best of these films deliver the immersive aesthetic that makes it all so much more real – especially in the modern day. 2014’s Ex Machina is one of the best explorations of AI subtly getting its way, while The Terminator (1984) brings Skynet into play, which is the default AI enemy in the minds of many.
Blade Runner (1982) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) are both exemplary films in their own right, regardless of themes, but also nail the conversations around AI and humanity, and Her (2013) offers an increasingly realistic look at our relationship with AI. Easily the best across a couple of formats is Ghost in the Shell (1995), which draws from the popular manga series. Here, you get a close look at the relationship between self-aware software, cyborgs, memory configuration, consciousness, and at what point computer programs can essentially be classed as humans.
Lots for The Creator to explore
Core to the best sci-fi stories that address AI and a cyber future is the aesthetics and a real story that looks deep into the striking questions about humanity’s relationship with AI. Director, writer, and producer Gareth Edwards certainly knows how to make a sci-fi spectacle. He came into Rogue One (2016) to do a grounded sci-fi war film, and the end product is rather impressive. In the trailers for The Creator, there are some equally grand floating structures, futuristic weapons, and these cyber-like contraptions that form the back of the heads of some characters.
Edwards was also behind 2014’s Godzilla, which made $530 million worldwide. Billed as a summer blockbuster at Explosion, it was certainly that, and took an importantly subtle approach to Godzilla, building to the great Titan’s grand arrival while grounding the story in likable characters. The Creator looks to also be a personable story that’s set in a grand landscape of high-sci-fi warfare, but focuses on Joshua and the surprising form that the Creator themselves takes, challenging his humanity in the face of the AI threat that could end the species itself.
An all-action sci-fi flick that just happens to have AI as the big bad is fine enough and would likely do quite well at the box office, but The Creator seems to be going much further and into the storytelling grounds of legendary AI movies that have come before. We’ll have to see how it goes when it booms into cinemas on September 29 this year.
0 Comments