Netflix’s Sci-Fi Thriller Accurately Predicted the Real-Time Threat of ChatGPT
Posted by Jonathan Klotz | Published
Go to any sci-fi streaming service and, within 10 seconds of browsing, you’ll see that there are enough bad AI movies to watch every day for a year and more to come. The scariest thing has come to Netflix.
Although we lack physical value a M3GANor the Terminator movie, shows that the real danger of AI is not physical, it’s emotional. in 2014Ex Machina it’s a brain teaser that will make you think, and by the time the credits roll, you’ll never look at ChatGPT or Gemini the same way again.
You’re A Robot And That’s OK
Future Star Wars co-stars Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac play, respectively, tech worker Caleb and eccentric CEO Nathan. Caleb thinks he’s won a special trip to Nathan’s for the week when he’s quickly told that Nathan has invented a new type of AI and wants Caleb to decide if he’s found true consciousness. Caleb knows that Ava, Alicia Vikander’s breakout role, isn’t real, but as the two engage in several conversations, he begins to have doubts. Even knowing the truth from the start, Caleb is taken by a female robot, and that’s when the real problems begin.
Ex Machina hit theaters years before AI chatbots became mainstream. In 2026, there are daily stories about someone who gets obsessed with their AI counterpart and decides to cut the whole world or do something they can’t come back from because the machine told them to do it. It turns out that the Terminator, Mission Impossible: Dead Count, Me, Robot, Tauand countless others have missed out on AI being a substitute for human companionship. He it came out last year Ex Machinaand a decade later, those two are still the gold standards when it comes to the real, emotional costs of dealing with AI.
The Kind Of Smart Sci-Fi Studios Left Behind
From the time he started playing theater, Ex Machina was a success, it was certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a critical rating of 92 percent and an audience rating of 86 percent. An extraordinary sci-fi in the age of visual spectacle. Written and directed by 28 years later writer Alex Garland, it looks more amazing than a film that is 90 percent dialogue has a right to be. Audiences couldn’t get enough of Oscar Isaac’s philosophical songs, wild twists, and dance sequences.
The little film was a huge hit in theaters with a limited release followed by an immediate nationwide release. It grossed just $37 million, double its $15 million budget, without considering commercial or theatrical cuts, Ex Machina it wasn’t a blockbuster. Instead, it gained by word of mouth over the past decade. The rising profile of everyone involved in the film certainly helped it grow over time, not even a cult classic, but a true hit.
Everyone involved in this film went on to further success: Gleeson and Isaac with Star Wars, Vikander and Tomb Raider, and even Sonoya Mizuno, who plays the silent role of Kyoko, has appeared in many Garland films since then. At that time, Ex Machina it’s becoming more relevant, and as AI becomes more integrated into our daily lives, the siren call of machine friendliness will be harder for people to ignore.
