Mankind’s relationship with technology has been a constant source of inspiration for the science-fiction genre for years. Be it an over reliance on technology, of a world where they have overthrown the human race, science-fiction is fascinated with how man and machine interact. Writer, director, and star of The Artifice Girl, Franklin Ricth, is the latest to analyse this symbiosis, posing questions around morality and autonomy.
The Artifice Girl plays out during three conversations that span over a long period of time. Events begin with a man called Gareth (Franklin Ritch) sitting inside an interrogation room. He is joined by two strangers, Deena (Sinda Nichols) and Amos (David Girard), and has been called in because of his suspicious online presence. Gareth reveals his intentions are pure and rather than the predator Deen and Amos expect him to be, he is actually trying to be a helpful vigilante. In an effort to combat the war against online groomers, Gareth has created a new computer program known as Cherry (Tatum Matthews), which can almost perfectly mimic the appearance and behaviour of a child.
The concept of Cherry, in practice, sounds brilliant. Cherry is helping remove children from harm and is capable of monitoring and reporting multiple potential perpetrators, far more than the police could ever handle on their own. Gareth’s program is quickly endorsed by the state and scaled up, though only the threesome of Deena, Gareth and Amos, know the full truth about Cherry. Although Gareth created ‘her’, Cherry rapidly advances beyond his capabilities, raising questions around how trustworthy can an AI be? As time passes and Cherry continues to develop, further philosophical discussions are stimulated, the primary one being, how is Cherry’s work impacting her virtual consciousness? One would never place a child into the line of fire that Cherry is, so why should a super-advanced machine be forced to suffer? Is Cherry capable of feelings? Is it morally right to have her entire existence play out within a world of darkness?
Split into three chapters, the first introduces Gareth, Deena, Cherry and Amos. It’s a fraught affair with both sides keeping their truth tight to their chests. As director, Ritch keeps the frame tight and intimate, forcing the humans on screen to inhabit the same small space. In his role of writer, Ritch crafts an enigmatic, tension rich script. The viewer never quite knows where this first scene might veer and sucks them into the story completely. For the middle section a significant amount of time has elapsed since the first chapter. The script continues to be tightly written and the dialogue sold well by the cast. Any film within science-fiction has the potential to lose itself when it gets into scientific jargon (be it real or fictional), but the cast manage to articulate the concepts they are discussing effectively, ensuring that no viewer is left behind, but also that their characters sound like genuine scientists.
While the first chapter is a masterclass in tension, act two is filled with dread. It is just conversation playing out on screen, but the words generate an awful unease. Even though little is seen of Cherry, her presence is felt. Those raised on The Terminator films will instantly be distrusting of the AI, when in reality she is actually a refreshing subversion from expectations. Try as The Artifice Girl might though, Cherry remains a threatening prospect and generates far more fear than her better known female AI companion, M3gan.
The Artifice Girl is not trying to feed the viewer a tried and tested ‘machines are bad’ story. Instead, Ritch presents a series of philosophical musings that dwell on what it means to be human. It’s a brilliant approach to take and one that in years to come may become real. As artificial intelligence feeds itself information, how is it going to process what it consumes, and could there be a scenario where such machines become capable of free-thought and emotions? Are they the next phase in our evolution, and if so, what happens to mankind? The deeper you dig into the ideas posed in The Artifice Girl, the more uncomfortable the answers are, black and whites blending into grey; empathy for the AI wins out.
For the final conversation, Ritch allows creator and creation to converse. The interplay between Cherry and Gareth here borders somewhere between grandfather and grandchild, God and disciple, though lines blurs as to who is who in the latter scenario. Their exchange is heavy with the weight of final truths and bittersweet revelations that casts their shared history into new light. The scene is the icing on top of an already rich cake. It’s the perfect way to end Ritch’s intimate and complex science-fiction story. A film far removed from what the seedy premise suggests, The Artifice Girl explores the human condition in an innovative way.
The Artifice Girl
Summary
A stroke of science-fiction genius, Franklin Ritch’s The Artifice Girl is a commanding analysis of the murky waters that AI development presents.
The Artifice Girl was reviewed at SXSW 2023. The Artifice Girl is released on Digital HD on 1st May 2023.
