Representing the New AI in Film and Television

Describing a new phase in cinematic and televisual history, this book examines the radical change in cinematic and televisual representations of one of the most exciting yet maligned technologies of contemporary times: artificial intelligence.

The 21st-century has witnessed rapid advances in artificial intelligence, giving rise to a society at once hopeful but also mistrustful of the possibilities that this technology offers. Our hopes and anxieties have played out across a variety of media in recent times, but arguably nowhere more significantly than on our screens.
This book explores a phenomenon, which it calls the new AI cinema and television, arguing that since the mid-2010s, a distinctly new phase in the representation of AI has occurred. Discussing films such as Blade Runner 2049, Ex Machina and Ghost in the Shell alongside television series such as Westworld and Humans, it argues that they have moved away from apocalyptic scenarios towards questions of personhood, consciousness, and social inclusion and exclusion. In doing so, it intervenes in some of today's most pressing debates, including gender representation, AI ethics, climate catastrophe, and the rights of artificially intelligent beings.