AI: Artificial Intelligence

Guide Note

The futuristic Science-Fiction film AI: Artificial Intelligence is about an artificial boy's quest to find a magic fairy so she can turn him into a real boy after his human mother rejects him.

Fast Facts

1. Directed by Steven Spielberg
2. Produced by Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Bonnie Curtis, Jan Harlan, Stanley Kubrick, Walter F. Parkes
3. Written by Steven Spielberg, Ian Watson, Brian Aldiss
4. Released on June 29, 2001
5. Starring Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor
6. Running Time: 2 hrs 25 min
7. Rating: PG-13
8. Tag line: "David is 11 years old. He weighs 60 pounds. He is 4 feet, 6 inches tall. He has brown hair. His love is real. But he is not."
9. Budget: $90 million
10. Domestic Gross: $78 million
11. Nominated for two Academy Awards

The film begins describing how global warming caused a dramatic rise of sea level, putting most of the East and West coasts of the United States under water. As an effect of the loss of the land, the government has enacted reproductive restrictions, allowing each couple to only birth one child. Due to the population restrictions, millions of human robots or Artificial Life have replaced humans all over the world.

Henry and Monica Swinton had one boy, but after his death placed him in "suspended animation", hoping someday he can be revived. Henry works for Cybertronics, a company that has just developed the first robot child, and asks Henry to adopt the child, David, for testing. Although David is lifelike much like other robots, he was programmed to love, a breakthrough for artificial intelligence technology. Henry agrees to take David home, but his wife Monica is not as accepting. Monica leaves David in the middle of nowhere, which starts David's journey for a special blue fairy, in hopes that the fairy will make him a real boy, so his mother, Monica, will love him.