Electric Child

A man looks to a super-intelligent AI to save his terminally ill child in this sci-fi thriller. What could go wrong? Navigating this line between hard science fiction and emotional family drama, Electric Child vividly unpacks what’s at stake behind questions of AI ethics.

A man looks to a super-intelligent AI to save his terminally ill child in this sci-fi thriller. What could go wrong?

Sonny and Akiko are devastated when their new-born son, Tōru, is given months to live. But Tōru isn’t Sonny’s only new creation: he is also working on an artificial super-intelligence that might hold the key to saving his son. As Sonny’s desperation grows, so does the AI’s intelligence – and the threat it poses to all humanity.

It’s here at the knife edge of technological ethics and human psychology that this film from Simon Jaquemet really sparks. It vividly narrates the maturation of an artificial life as a vulnerable child navigating a desert island – in stark contrast to the overwhelming hum of servers behind this mirage. Meanwhile, the domestic trauma of a grieving couple builds towards a spectacular conclusion.

As it navigates this line between hard science fiction and charged family drama, Electric Child searches for a beating heart behind otherwise cerebral questions. After all, the film shows, the stakes around entrusting AI are tangled up with very human concerns about the value of life. But does the AI understand this too?

– Callum McLean

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