Ex Machina

[Spice Runner]

Just saw the movie today. Absolutely a fantastic movie. I liked the whole concept of Artificial Intelligence and what implications it will have for humanity. Caleb's actual role in the Turing Test....wow.

That said. There was one plot point that bothered me.
Spoiler

Why did Nathan have no fail-safe or security measures in place in case one of his AI harem ever got to be in a position to physically threaten him.

Also
Spoiler

It bothered me the way Nathan treated the AI. Yes I know he viewed them as just machine prototypes which he would continue to build upon to get to ideal AI.

[Joun_Lord]

I'm not even really at all interested in seeing this, not because it sounds like a bad movie (just going by the reviews I've read it sounds iffy) but because it got my hopes up and then dashed them like some baby birds against some rocks that this was a movie based on the excellent Ex Machina comics.

[Spice Runner]

Spoiler

At least the AI wasn't built so ridiculously strong that they were able to easily overpowered him but, yeah, it would have made sense for them to have some sort of built in "safety" phrase that would cause an automatic shut down. He was just too cocky about his other control measures. This was also assuming that the AIs were incapable of reprogramming themselves to any degree.

Yeah....I agree about the AI strength Spoiler

The fact that Nathan had the AI fembots limited in strength made sense considering his whole underground secret setup, what with him being alone with them. Also I just picked up on this, but during the middle of the movie where Nathan was giving Caleb a tour of his facility, his knuckles were scarred as if he had been in a scuffle. This was before it was revealed that he had more AI (Kyoko etc..) than AVA At this point I figured that there was something sinister going on.

Spoiler

I might have missed this part since I had to duck out mid-movie to go to the bathroom but did anyone else feel that Caleb might have altered Nathan's non-AI companion so she would assist Ava?

That's interesting, I didn't connect the dots at first but, Spoiler

Towards the end it became apparent that Nathan's Asian companion was in fact an AI sexbot / companion. I guess she was a prototype AI which became too aware at some point in the past.

To answer your question: Though Nathan had removed his Asian companion AI's speech and kept her quite submissive, I think deep down she was still very resentful at how Nathan had treated her as showed in the flashbacks of her screaming about being locked in the lab. Notice how she was watching the secret camera feeds of Caleb and AVA's interaction. I think she (Nathans companion) also in her own way was subtly manipulating Nathan until the right moment...when AVA escaped. I don't know what AVA whispered in her ear. But it looked like she was convinced pretty easily by AVA to at least not stand in her way as she made her break for freedom. That is my interpretation at least.

Spoiler

Copying her program without deleting the existing one, further developing it, and placing it in a new body would have made sense and would allow him to continue his research without basically murdering Ava. I'm kind of surprised that Caleb never brought up this point to try and sway Nathan to spare her.

You know that's what I was thinking as well Spoiler

When Caleb was explaining this to Ava after she asked him what Nathan was going to do with her, I figured Caleb would try to argue this alternative with Nathan. Shame we didn't get to see what he was thinking.

Spoiler

Did anyone else interpret Ava's actions at the end as leaving Caleb to die in that tomb of a facility so that there would not be any loose ends that would result in people looking for her after the company inevitably comes looking for Nathan/Caleb at the facility?

Spoiler

When she spared Caleb's life, I thought perhaps there was some tiny amount of empathy in Ava. But yeah that made sense. Ava wants to see the world she has been deprived of but being meticulous she tied up all the loose ends by locking Caleb into the lab. But I have to wonder wouldn't Ava deduce that either the company Blue Book or the authorities are going to investigate when it's founder and CEO completely stops communication with the outside world. I have to wonder if Ava had any long term plans for her freedom...or if she simply wanted to see the city intersection and die / power down on her own terms, and not by being terminated like a slave by Nathan in a lab. But that is open to interpretation I suppse.