A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Question: Why did Teddy growl in the helicopter when the trio arrived at Manhattan?

Bunch

Chosen answer: It was dangerous for Mecha to go there; he was afraid for David's safety.

David R Turner

Question: What is the name of the female child Mecha that is inscribed on the boxes across from the boxes of Davids?

Matty Blast

Chosen answer: Darlene.

Question: What is the significance of the seven word code used to activate David?

Answer: The seven word code was used to activate David's imprinting protocol which would make him recognize Monica as his mother.

Answer: Spielberg is Jewish, the seven word code relates to the Jewish legends of the Gollum, whereby reciting an enchantment can bring these dolls to life.

Answer: I think the significance is that there is no significance. David's manufacturers programmed him with these specific words because they are indeed very random. The chance of someone speaking these exact words, in that exact order, for any reason other than the intended purpose would never happen. Therefore, there would be no "accidental" programming.

Christie Love

Chosen answer: He wants David to remember him, but he knows he is going to be destroyed, and so gets a bit poetical. "I am" as a message to David to remember Joe was a real person (kind of...) and "I was" because he knows they will never see each other again.

Twotall

Not quite. "I am" - A commentary on consciousness and what existance really means (or could mean) to a Mecha. "I was" - I am more than just "now". I have a past. I learned, I grew, I experienced. Joe is the philosopher of the film...a family-friendly version of Roy Batty in his final scene in Bladerunner - "Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion...I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain" = "I was."

Question: Joe finds Samantha Bevins killed on a bed in a hotel. He then sees a man who killed her. Going out of the hotel he puts a small knife to his operating license attached to the left side of his chest. He seems to try to break it off. Why?

Bunch

Chosen answer: His license is a tracking device. By removing it, he's preventing the authorities from easily tracking him.

Question: They say David's mom is dead because 2000 years have passed. Does David not understand that humans can't live that long?

Answer: Yes, he knew humans die. He asked mom if she would die, she said yes, but not for a long time...50 years. David asks Teddy "is 50 years a long time?" and Teddy says "I don't think so." He denies she is dead/can't be brought back for more than a day b/c that is not the answer he wanted.

Answer: Being robotic in the first place and ending up at the exhibition where old robots are destroyed probably told David that things die, through the actions of others. It's plausible he may not know any different, still functioning 2000 years later when found under water with his bear. It does come as a shock to him to learn everybody he knew has gone, so I'd say no, he didn't know humans (and his mum) will die. It's shown David can learn and retain information, and to be honest it's not really the sort of conversation you have with a child until it's strictly necessary anyway.

Neil Jones

Question: Why is it that on some of the notes David wrote for Monica, he said he hated Teddy, but on others he said he loved him?

Matty Blast

Chosen answer: These letters made an appearance in the short-story, "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long," the story that the movie stems from. Both the movie David and literary David are struggling with the concept of reality. David realizes that Teddy is a 'robot', and thus perhaps less 'real' than living beings. David desperately wishes to be 'real' and Monica's 'real' son. Thus, despite his affections and attachments to Teddy, David sometimes distances himself from Teddy because his status as a 'robot' threatens David's own conceptions of his self. He 'hates' the parts of Teddy that are robotic, because he hates these in himself.

Question: After accepting David as a son, Monica in a wedding dress wears perfume, and she and Henry in a tuxedo go out. Where did they go? They had a wedding?

Answer: It's not a wedding dress, just a fancy dress. They're heading to a formal party.

Question: Why did Professor Hobby, at the beginning of the movie, tell the Mecha to undress?

Matty Blast

Answer: The Mecha was in a room full of strangers, and yet, because it had no feelings of shame (no feelings at all was the point), it undressed without any concern of onlookers.

Chosen answer: To show how completely obedient the mecha are and that there is nothing to be afraid of when it comes to them.

Tobin OReilly

Question: This is a five part question: 1) What exactly were the future mechas doing at the end of the film? 2) Why were the mechas were only able to bring people back for a day? 3) How did the human race become extinct? 4) In what year is it set? 5) In what city is it set?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: 1) They are excavating. 2) It is as far as their technology will allow. 3) It is never stated 4) The movie is set in the 22nd century somewhere between 2100 and 2200. The end of the movie is set 2000 years later. 5) The final parts of the movie appear to be set in Manhattan.

MasterOfAll

1) The same things humans do - what is our past, our meaning our purpose? Who were the "gods" who created us and why were we created? They were searching for meaning. 3) Assume safely the planet became unlivable for humans, as is will b/c...climate change. If I remember correctly, everything was under the ice, and it was frozen all the way to the bottom. Humans could not live with that. The planet will seize up and die...and us along with it.

Question: How did teddy the get extra hair? They left the room where David cut his mother's hair, and never returned. Second, how did teddy think to get the extra hair? They didn't know about DNA cloning until near the end of the film.

Answer: This is answered in the film. After David cuts his mom's hair and the parents react, David is frightened and the hair falls to the floor right in front of Teddy. Teddy, who wants to help David, picks up the hair, knowing David wanted it.

Question: Why did the tech company that manufactured David stay based in Manhattan? Considering that it's flooded. Seems a little impractical.

Jack Vaughan

Answer: The owner/inventor of the company may have kept the doors open in Manhattan to see if any of his products would return 'home'. He seemed to be very pleased that David had returned and was interested in finding out why. I got the feeling the AI's creator was hoping for a sign that the instinct to return was something novel and not just a predictable result of their original programming.

Question: What does Joe say when he goes to have sexual relations with the battered wife?

Answer: Quite a lot, but the line just before is: "You... are a goddess, Patricia. You wind me up inside. But you deserve much better in your life. You deserve... me."

Sierra1

Question: So, what happens to David and Teddy after the movie is over? Wouldn't they be alone on Earth after David's mother dies again?

Cody Fairless-Lee

Answer: It is implied that David dies after spending the day with Monica. The narrator says that he falls asleep and goes to "that place where dreams are born" which could be interpreted to mean the afterlife. Teddy's fate is never mentioned. However, the words of the narrator could also be interpreted literally, and David simply falls asleep and has a dream. It's up to the viewer to decide how they view the ending.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: How did they clone David's mother by using a hair sample? Hair doesn't contain DNA. Secondly, if they wanted to make David happy by bringing his mother back, why not recreate her in a simulation instead of creating a clone of her? Then David would be able to spend as much time with her as he wants.

Answer: This is a 2 part question and the second part may be speculation since the film doesn't really discuss why she couldn't be a simulation nor do I have a viable theory. Regarding DNA though. Cut hair can contain DNA. Without getting too much into it, it's not that hair inherently does not contain DNA, the formation of hair destroys cells, and thus nuclear DNA is destroyed. But nucleated corneocytes are intact cells that for some reason aren't damaged and they do contain DNA. The less available DNA there is in a sample, the more advanced and expensive techniques are required to extract it. With 2,000 years of technological advancements, it would be easy to extract the needed DNA.

Bishop73

Question: What was wrong with Martin? We see him in a place, and he appears to be frozen in a special chamber but why? Was he sick?

Answer: Martin had some type of a rare (non-specified) disease, which would have been fatal. He was placed into suspended animation until a cure could be found, which it later was.

raywest

Revealing mistake: When the robots start to scavange the pile of robot rubble the moon balloon comes over. One of the robots shouts, " Moon on the rise!". If you look carefully you can actually see the actors' real bottom lip behind a metal robot jaw that isn't meant to have any flesh or skin. (00:58:15)

milesfb

More mistakes in A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Trivia: In Philip K. Dick's short story "Type II" which became the movie Screamers, the Type III robot was a small boy named David, carrying a Teddy.

More trivia for A.I. Artificial Intelligence

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