Bicentennial Man

In the movie Bicentennial Man, the AI robot Andrew took on many traits that made him look and act like a human. Andrew also wanted to be considered alive and not just a robot. However, even though there were people who accepted him and treated him as an equal individual, there were others who treated Andrew as no more than a simple appliance or a tool which could be disposed of with ease.

At the beginning of the movie, Andrew failed the Turing test when he was told “good night” and didn’t respond properly as a human would. After he fell out of the window, Andrew was able to converse with humans more intelligently and with a more realistic and human response. As the movie progressed, Andrew becomes really intelligent like humans because he is able to learn from his mistakes, have a proper conversation without sounding he is like a robot, and he is able to think for himself just like a human.

In my opinion, I think that Andrew is alive. At first he was considered just an appliance since he preformed all his designated functions, but that soon changed. He went through lots of upgrades that gave him skin, artificial organs, and even a working nervous system which allowed Andrew to be as close to being a human as possible. Also, most people connected with Andrew as if her were a human and by that reason, I think he is alive.

I think that robots with AI such as Andrew should not be owned by other people. Since Andrew had a will of his own and also a learning intelligence with a strong sense of independence, he shouldn’t be owned by any human because that would be equal to a human owning another human as a slave, and that is very unethical. Just like human slaves, intelligent AI such as Andrew have a will and opinion of their own and shouldn’t be owned by others.

To me, if a robot with a strong AI such as Andrew’s caliber, should be able to marry humans because with their knowledge and personality they would be equal to any human marrying another human. For example in the movie, Portia was going to marry another human but Andrew became jealous and was overcome with emotions and feelings for her, and in turn, she too had strong feelings for Andrew. Even though they’d be rejected by society at first, they were ultimately accepted by the world.

In the movie, Andrew was rejected at his first appeal to be acknowledged as human. He was told by the court that he wasn’t human because he was immortal that characteristic would cause jealousy and resentment toward him if he was to be called a human. I think that if a robot had achieved the qualities Andrew did by the end of the movie, I think I would consider them to be human even though they would be immortal. Andrew in the movie chooses to age and soon die just to be accepted as a human. I think that other AI who would be like Andrew would do the same and other people who would be jealous of their immortality would need not worry about it.

I believe that AI would be a very good thing for humanity because it’ll introduce another intelligent race into the world. I predict that if true AI had been achieved, it would turn out like the movie Bicentennial Man because robots and AI would be programmed with the Three Laws of Robotics and wouldn’t pose a threat to man kind. Also, as AI would get intelligent as Andrew did, they would provide new citizens to the world and also make human life easier. With both intelligent AI and humans living together, it’d be a very bright and prosperous future.