What Stanley Kubrick Got Right About Artificial Intelligence
Twenty-five years after the premiere of A.I. Artificial Intelligence, a science fiction novelist reflects on his work for the acclaimed movie.
Illustration: Nicholas Law for Bloomberg
It was the summer of 1990 in Stanley Kubrick’s kitchen and I’d just invented the sex robot Gigolo Joe. Stanley was developing the story for what would ultimately become A.I. Artificial Intelligence, a film about the misadventures of a humanoid robot child named David. But there was a problem with the plot.
“Look,” Stanley told me, “Little David and his teddy bear won’t get far unless they have help. From some kind of G.I. Joe character.”