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‘The Artifice Girl‘ imagines a reality exceptionally close to ours. With all the advancements of artificial intelligence, and traipsing around in the Uncanny Valley, there are a lot of incredible and frightening possibilities. In ‘The Artifice Girl‘, the idea of AI crossing the line from a controlled program to an entity that can think and possibly feel for itself.
From AI to Real Girl?
Synopsis: A team of special agents discovers a revolutionary new computer program to bait and trap online predators. After teaming up with the program’s troubled developer, they soon find that the AI is rapidly advancing beyond its original purpose.
Written and directed by Franklin Ritch (Bedridden (2018), who also has a starring role, ‘The Artifice Girl‘ also stars Tatum Matthews (‘The Waltons’ (2018), Sinda Nichols (‘Bubblegum Crash‘ (1991) and David Gerard (‘Teardrop Goodbye with Mandatory Directorial Commentary by Remy Von Trout‘ (2019). Lance Henriksen (Aliens (1986) also makes an appearance.
Thoughts and Impressions
I was pretty hooked in the first few minutes of the film thinking it would get intensely dark, or pick up tension in some kind of way. But it stayed pretty much the same throughout. It wasn’t that the film lacked decent pacing though, it was just unique.
I stayed curious about what was going to happen, and I think there was something about the film that just had me thinking about how surreal being in something like this would be and how we’re not far off from the possibility of AI gaining sentience.
There was also something believable about the dialogue at the start of the film when the developer describes his processes and the program’s abilities and limitations; now, computer programming and artificial intelligence development is not a world I know anything about, so it could’ve been inaccurate or all untrue, but it was definitely believable.
But what was strange for me was how the story moved through time and just seemed to keep going. Normally I’d feel bored, or confused, yet I was still drawn in. I think it had something to do with the way the characters behaved around the program. One of them even has pretty serious emotions as if it were a real-life girl.
I was a little disappointed with the ending, maybe even a little confused. But I didn’t dislike the film as a whole.
Possibilities In Reality With AI
We’ve been assured time and time again that AI can never gain sentience, and that it’s only as “smart” and capable as its programmers were. But there are unknowns. When you think of something like quantum physics, there are literally all kinds of crazy things that seem improbable, that occur seemingly naturally.
Granted, we are still talking about naturally occurring phenomena versus things that are created by humans. Is it really known beyond a doubt how successful something might be? In the world of research, they’re constantly surprised by the outcomes against their original hypnosis. But don’t let me ramble on about imagined scenarios.
Is ‘The Artifice Girl’ Worth the Watch?
I’d say so. It’s really interesting, and in some weird way, feels like visual poetry. I like how it was shot. And while how the story unfolds feels a bit unusual for me, it still kept my interest. If you like movies that make you think beyond the story that’s being told, you’ll enjoy ‘The Artifice Girl‘.
