Film Review: I’m Your Man
Based on a short story by Emma Braslavsky, “I’m Your Man” is a clever “dramedy” about a life-like robot, Tom, and Alma, a no-nonsense archaeologist researcher at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Alma agrees to “try out” Tom, a humanoid robot, as a potential partner, for three weeks in exchange for a donation to her passion project, studying ancient Sumerian texts. Tom is programed to give Alma increasing amounts of what she likes (determined by a pre-experiment interview). His algorithm is to make Alma happy and her reactions are both humorous and telling. He’s kind, handsome and boring. When challenged by Alma to show some of his own feelings, he responds: “If it seems appropriate, I believe I could display something like anger. Or even get angry. But I’ve never understood the difference.” … a response that frustrates Alma even more. Toward the end, as relationship develops, Tom refers to the possibility of his being returned to “the factory” and, then, reacts to Alma’s sadness and distress by saying, “That’s an advantage of not being alive. You can’t die either.”
As the “couple” struggles through their brief time together, we the viewers are challenged by the questions raised in this odd relationship: What does it mean to be human? Does having our every need met add to or undermine our relationships? What does sentient mean? What is the difference between wisdom and knowledge? As androids/robots are brought more into our lives, what are the ethical issues that their services raise? What are the barriers to human-android partnerships? This film provides no answers but takes us on an entertaining and thought-provoking trip as we ponder them.
Our film club found the movie interesting, unusual, raising several questions about the ethics of artificial intelligence and human-robot interactions.
Recent articles addressing Human-Robot issues:
Google Sidelines Engineer Who Claims Its A.I. Is Sentient
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/12/technology/google-chatbot-ai-blake-lemoine.html
A.I. Is Not Sentient. Why Do People Say It Is?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/05/technology/ai-sentient-google.html?smid=em-share
And a book continuing the discussion of Human-Robot relationships (review in the ECG Newsletter)
Klara and the Sun
https://www.esplanadecommunity.com/klara
Jane and Fred Davis