The Artifice Girl
Writer/director/lead actor Franklin Ritch conceived of The Artifice Girl well before ChatGPT was even a thing but the release of this, his second movie, is coincidentally well-timed, perhaps giving it an extra boost of relevance and an increase in interested eyeballs. That all being said, I'm grateful that the movie isn't another one of those dire warnings of impending doom, but instead more of a thoughtful, well-considered exploration into the ethical and existential issues surrounding AI. It's not necessarily bringing up ideas that haven't been considered in other speculative science fiction, but it's still a smartly conceived and well-executed piece of work that serves as a good primer to the burgeoning AI conversation.
There is hardly any action in this ultra-low-budget production; it's basically an extended conversation in three different time periods, set in simple rooms that could easily be transferred onto a play stage. The first section shows us a man named Gareth (Ritch) who has been brought in to be interrogated by two agents. It's eventually revealed that all parties are interested in creating technological ways to combat the spread of pedophiles and predators operating online. The newest tactic is what appears to be a nine-year-old girl named Cherry (Tatum Matthews), who is a super advanced AI that lures predators and reports them to the authorities.
Cherry becomes a key part of a larger operation to catch predators, and her rapid evolution starts to bring up issues that concern Gareth and his team. How does she feel about what she's doing? Does she want to spend her time chatting with creeps, or does she have desires of her own? Can she even have wants or desires, or is she just a tool for the police? Is she real? Has she reached the point of evolution where she is almost indistinguishable from a human? It's a thorough examination of all of the classic ethical issues surrounding AI, presented in a clear and easy-to-understand manner.
The movie may be almost entirely dialogue, but it's still incredibly engaging. Our human characters keep their own secrets and have their own intrigue, but the focus is squarely on what Cherry is becoming and how humanity will deal with the future that she heralds. Matthews plays Cherry mostly in robotic monotone, but as the AI evolves, so does her performance, eventually leaking out bits of "human" emotion that is equally affecting and bizarre. Ritch asks a lot of himself as an actor, playing the brooding creator of Cherry, who constantly seems to know more than he lets on.
If AI eventually becomes "real" then they will surely be the children of their creators, a point driven home in the final scene where an elderly Gareth tries to square things with his creation. These are weighty issues being discussed, and humanity will need to reckon with them sooner than later. The Artifice Girl is a perfect example of what the best science fiction can do, and it's an impressive accomplishment for a no-budget movie where people sit around talking in rooms. Highly recommended.
