Robots in Disguise

The in class move, “Be Right Back, indirectly confronts the idea of in “Uncanny Valley” between humans and technology. It is considered most notably for appearances between humans and human like robots, but the film takes the idea a step further, analyzing the mental makeup of humans and how much a robot could actually mimic the deeper thoughts and feelings of a true person. 

Early in the movie the husband dies while traveling, and Martha, his grieving wife tries to cope with her loss. At the funeral a friend, Sara, offers to sign her up for a program that would help her continue on with her life, which would involve a texting service that would mimic the deceased husband. Originally she rejects the idea, but later she sees an email from the friend stating that she went ahead and signed Martha up for the service. This message was followed by one from the program itself, which she promptly trashes. Later, in a moment of loneliness, she activates the program and starts stalking with the AI (artificial intelligence). She slowly grows more attached, uploading more files and videos to the program so that it becomes even more like her dead husband. Eventually it even moves to actually phone calls and him “seeing” through videos, and then dramatically evolving into a physical body. This is where the uncanny valley dips the most since it now has the physical appearance of her dead husband, but with less of  his deeper mannerisms and feelings. She comes to discover how limited the body really is and eventually tries to rid herself of it by telling it to throw itself off of a cliff, but its manages to convey enough emotion that she keeps it in her attic for years more, even while she has a growing child who knows him as Ash, the name of her dead husband, but as a kind of friend instead of an actual father. 

While a unique and innovative program, it has a major limitation of what it can find online to download for personality and traits. The program does not get a full picture as it usually only finds the public image of what Ash really is because that is the image we post online, with private and usually deeper principles hidden. A true AI, while mirrored off of human traits as a basis, would not be limited to what it can find, but instead would be self aware and could form its own thoughts and personality. A true AI would be able to climb the valley slope as it would mimic human traits far more accurately. Coupled with a realistic body, like the one in “Be Right Back”, the AI would pass for a human to most. This intellectual capacity is what the robotic Ash is missing, and is why he could not pass enough for Martha.