CRAFT & ENCODE present: Ex Machina (2014)

This is the fourth in a series of screenings that take up questions related to AI and human-machine relations screened in cooperation with Verdensteatret Cinematek. The event is funded by NFH (CRAFT) and HSL (ENCODE).

Starring Alicia Vikander, Domnhall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac, Ex Machina follows 26-year old programmer Caleb who receives what seems like his life's assignment when called to work with the seclusive CEO of the world-leading Internet company he is empoyed at. The experiment he is about to engage in will challenge Caleb in ways he could not foresee. Maybe the only way to tell a proper AI from a mere stochastic parrot (Bender et al. 2022) is the moment 'it' sucessfully frames you?

Garland's foresighted film explores pressing issues of what makes a human and dissects the dark misogynist, chauvinistic, and aggressively libertarian undercurrents of tech-developer discourses and identities. Taking issue with mass surveillance, data capture and overempowered individuals as a mere backdrop to the evolving story gives these elements a haunting quality and brings attention to the degree to which they already have been normalized in our relation to digital technologies today. Main focus, however, is on the question of how to tell if attempts to create a true artificial intelligence have been successful and trying to understand what the ethical and societal implications of such an endeavor might be.

Screening starts at 18:00 on Wednesday September 20, 2023. Introduction by Zoheb Mashiur (CRAFT) and Holger Pötzsch (ENCODE) before the film. Possibility for q/a and discussion after the screening.

All welcome, so please spread the word!

Annnouncement at VT can be found here.

Tickets for the event can be bought here.