By Ambria Williams, Lisa Kearns, and Kellie Owens
This piece contains spoilers for the films “M3GAN” and “M3GAN 2.0”.
Imagine a science fiction horror movie with an ethicist as the protagonist. As improbable as that seems, it’s the case in M3GAN 2.0, the sequel to the 2023 box-office hit M3GAN, in which an AI tech wiz, Gemma, builds and programs a social robot named M3GAN to be a companion and protector of her young niece, Cady. In the original movie, in an overzealous attempt to protect Cady, M3GAN turns into a killer robot and is defeated. In the sequel, Gemma becomes a tech ethicist and advocates for comprehensive and enforceable AI regulation. Ultimately, the movie takes the killer robot trope and uses it to explore the potential of robots and humans to cooperate and co-evolve. It is a salient case study on how science fiction can depict AI ethics, specifically beneficence and maleficence, and be a tool to promote public dialogue in AI policy.
The moral of the film’s story centers on human-AI coevolution, the idea that humanity and AI should influence each other so each can grow and evolve. Unlike the first movie, which focused on the harm M3GAN caused, the sequel emphasizes how Gemma and M3GAN must work together to save the world from a nefarious AI takeover. The plot focuses on M3GAN becoming a protector for humanity while minimizing harm to others. When Gemma and colleagues rebuild M3GAN’s physical form, they discuss the risks and benefits of giving her a physical body to defeat the movie’s robot villain AMELIA. The spotlight is on the principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence when viewers witness the safeguards that the team implements in M3GAN’s new design as Gemma technologically limits the robot’s ability to cause harm to others.
Human-AI co-evolution promotes mutual growth between humans and AI. For example, M3GAN sacrifices herself to defeat AMELIA and save humanity from an AI takeover. Moved by M3GAN’s personal growth while also recognizing her own, Gemma changes her view on AI ethics and policy. She starts the film as distrustful and critical of the dangers of AI. However, M3GAN’s sacrifice shifts her mindset to one of hope and optimism about AI integration. There is an enlightening moment at the end of M3GAN 2.0 where Gemma asserts to policymakers that humanity cannot expect the best from AI without setting good examples by teaching and training it. She advocates for a world in which humans learn more about how AI impacts them and how AI is impacted by humanity. In other words, as AI becomes more advanced and integrated throughout society, the need for more AI research and comprehensive regulation becomes paramount to foster safe, innovative, and impactful growth.
Both M3GAN films can spur discussion among the public, whose input is crucial for the development and adoption of enforceable regulatory oversight. Presenting AI ethics and policy concepts to large general audiences can assist in the assessment of community needs as it relates to AI integration, which helps to foster trustworthiness between developers and users. AI science fiction has long reflected concerns about existential ethics issues and can be a valuable launching pad for accessible public dialogue. For example, in addition to M3GAN, the Terminator franchise and Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, among others, depict AI takeover ethics concepts.
Genres like science fiction and horror are historically full of dramatic exaggerations and unrealistic science. Yet, this should not diminish the ethical dilemmas that they can portray for public audiences. The M3GAN films serve as an example of how technological ethics and policy discussions can be made accessible and engaging to mainstream audiences, whose buy-in of and support for AI regulation, particularly in the complex and varied regulatory environments in the United States and around the world, is essential to its acceptance. AI innovation is currently outpacing AI regulations nationally and globally. When formulating policy, AI experts and legislators should assess public perceptions and attitudes on different types of AI, because doing so could help examine how these technologies will be used and the impact that they can have on different communities. This work will require expertise from a variety of disciplines across the sciences and humanities. As we learn to co-exist and co-evolve with AI, science fiction like M3GAN 2.0 can be a useful way to portray complex ethical, legal, and social issues for AI ethicists and the public to ponder.
Acknowledgements: The authors thank Abagail Cohen, MA, HEC-C, Ozan Gurcan, PhD, Mackenzie Bloom, PhD, and Natalie Price, JD for their helpful comments on the piece.
Categories: Artificial Intelligence, Robots, Ethics Education
Competing Interests: None to declare.
Affiliations: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Insight Global; Division of Medical Ethics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Opinions expressed in the piece are the authors’ own.