The Artifice Girl does an even better job of laying out the ethical questions and risks posed by humanlike intelligent AI than the Blade Runner movies and Ex Machina, and those are great movies. This film was made on a budget that was probably less than just one scene in any of those films.
A man is brought in for questioning by Federal Agents who have detected him participating in pedophile chat rooms where he introduces his daughter, Cherry, with whom the pedos interact privately.
They think he’s peddling his 12 to 13-ish daughter. Well, he’s not. He’s doing something else entirely: He’s using a highly realistic simulation of a girl to identify pedos who he turns over to the authorities (anonymously, I have to assume).
He starts to work with the agents, and so ends Act I.
Act II: Years later, Cherry has become far more sophisticated because learning is one of her primary functions. In a crisis moment, it’s revealed just how far advanced she’s become. Not only has she learned to understand human feelings, she may even have some (or is she simulating them?).
Act III: Much later, she is now a physical being, living with her creator as a servant. There is a confrontation. I’ll leave it there. All I’ll say is that it had me in tears for making real the question, When does a program become a person? Would shutting one off be murder?
The whole story is driven by intelligent dialog and spot-on acting, and the young actress, Tatum Matthews, who plays Cherry, deserved an Academy Award nomination, though I think this movie probably flew either under the radar or over the heads of many of the Academy Award nominators.
Some of the best movies ever made are dialog driven: 12 Angry Men, Glengarry Glen Ross, My Dinner With Andre, The Big Chill, Convergence. This movie belongs in that kind of company.
It’s available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and Google Play for $3.99 or for free with ads on Tubi.
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