What happens when AI finally grasps humanity? What happens when you lock a narcissist and an empath in a house in the middle of nowhere? The answer is Ex Machina. The title of the movie is more than fitting as it alludes to the double entendre of the phrase “Deus Ex Machina” both definitions of the phrase can be used to describe aspects of the film. Classically, Deux Ex Machina is Latin for “god from the machine” referring to the concept of machines bringing out actors who are playing Gods on stage in Ancient Greek theater. In the film this concept is illustrated by the narcissistic antagonist, Nathan who believes that he has achieved a God-like status after creating his nearly sentient AI, Ava. Deus Ex Machina is also a plot device in which a story that seems unsolvable is suddenly resolved by due to some unlikely occurrence, and I would like to argue that this device was used in the film.

Throughout the movie, in the interactions between the protagonist, Caleb, and Ava both Caleb and the audience are forced to evaluate whether sentience can be fabricated and the implications of this. With every “session” Ava undergoes with Caleb, we begin to peel back the layers of not Ava, but both Caleb and Nathan. Their thoughts and behaviors towards a non-human really show us who they are, all the while we are lead to believe that we are investigating the inner workings of Ava.

While there are a lot of comparisons to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, I think that Ex Machina stands in its own right, on account of its characters. Unlike, Dr. Frankenstein, Nathan was not worried about the idea of his creation having or triggering an adverse reaction in the world such as technological singularity, he viewed it as an inevitability. What then does this say about our role in our own demise? The movie is about man, just as much as it is about the things we create.