How human can an artificial intelligence be?

The philosophical science fiction film "Ex machina" shows a gripping duel between humans and androids. But he does not give up central questions.

Possibilities and Dangers of Artificial Intelligence - from this topic one could make a yawning dull academic lecture, or, like the British director Alex Garland, a captivating cinematic intimate play.

The main characters are a modern Frankenstein, his creation and an inexpert young computer scientist. In the 21st century Gothic horror is, of course, overhauled. The castle is mutated into a solitary, solitary house in the mountains, and instead of seizing a corpse-like giant from corpses, the modern Prometheus plants a superhuman artificial intelligence into a breathtakingly beautiful woman's body. Soon, between the protagonists, a patient-playing game, a wise and relentless duel between man and machine, begins, with only one leaving the place as the winner.

Garland, who also wrote the screenplay, has incorporated many of the philosophical questions on intelligence, perception, and awareness in his 100-minute feature film. In the course of history, they are increasingly contributing to the aura of the unreal, which passes through the film. Ava, for example, becomes an actor in the thought experiment of Mary's room, asking whether complete knowledge about all aspects of human color perception can replace the actual experience of colors.

Unfortunately, however, Ex Machina lacks the force, the depth, the creative imagination under the smooth surface. For many questions, the film is out of the way: How alien would an intelligence, which consists of silicon-based switching elements? Would she have a soul, an awareness? Or are the concepts of human experience which are not applicable to artificial intelligence? Could human beings still comprehend, let alone judge, a system that is more complex than their own brain?

Sure, the scholars also dispute what, for example, consciousness should be. The American philosopher Daniel Dennett, for example, thinks it is an illusion, his Australian colleague David Chalmers believes that the question of his existence may not decide at all.

An artist could and should, however, take a position when he accepts the matter. Garland, however, only shows the surface behind which the real questions lurk. His Androidin Ava looks almost human, she appears as a will-strong, clever and unscrupulous woman before choosing between the life in the prison of her creator and her outbreak into the world. Already nearly fifty years ago Philip K. Dick in his famous novel "Dreaming Androids of electronic sheep?" These questions are much deeper.

The film is also weakening in the representation of the current robotics. Brain and body of the Androidin spring from the imagination of the director, the production of such technical masterpieces is still far in the future.

All in all, Ex Machina is a remarkable and visually highly polished work of art, a philosophical reflection on the old theme of the dangers of human hubris. But is philosophy really worthwhile if it does not try to answer? And would not the statement of the film have been more impressive if he had portrayed the current development of robotics and artificial intelligence more precisely?

Ex Machina, VoD, DVD and Blu-ray, United Kingdom 2015. Director: Alex Garland