Atlas: A Glimpse into a Future with Sentient AI • Film Review

AI is already transforming the way we do things in the digital world. It's even in humanoid robots and will be living amongst us in the near future, augmented in our daily lives to enhance us. And the things we will be able to achieve with AI will be revolutionary, especially when we are able to link up with it.

Years ago, you would only see things regarding artificial intelligence and its potential in films, and they were often thought of as, you know, just science fiction. 2024 being the biggest year for AI so far, especially with the developments by big AI companies in their models, we now have a better perspective on what AI could mean for us and what it could become in our society.

Like every machine in the world, AI remains a tool whose use is largely dependent on the user. And a tool can be a boon or bane to society, depending on how it is used. What if, however, that tool—AI in this case—gets to determine how it is used? That is, what if it breaks free from its basic programming and becomes sentient and autonomous?

Put in a body (or robot) that is a hundred times faster, stronger, and modified compared to humans, the 2024 film Atlas shows the bright and dark sides of having powerful AI in our lives.

A brilliant but misanthropic counterterrorism analyst (Jennifer Lopez) battles to save humanity from the robot (Simu Liu) behind a deadly AI uprising. _Netflix

What attracted me to the film was its title. Prior to seeing the film, I was already familiar with the name Atlas for the humanoid robot by Boston Dynamics, and that immediately influenced my perception of the film and got me interested, especially with its synopsis.

Watching the first few scenes and learning that the film was also about AI terrorists, I quickly became engrossed in it. It was going to have some action, include AI concepts, and involve robots. It was pretty much what I had been longing to watch for a while now—sci-fi about robots and all. And in a way, it even had interplanetary travel between galaxies in it, and that excited me, although it turned out to not have much extraterrestrial exploration.

Now, the storyline isn't anything particularly different from the kinds we have seen before. It is what you'd expect in a sci-fi film of its kind. What I mostly liked about it, despite that, was that it touched on a refined insight into the bright and dark sides of the developments and integrations of AI in our lives.

It was a bit scary to see how AI was willing to wipe out the entire existence of humans as it "deemed it the only thing to do to save the earth." And that we'd eventually destroy ourselves. The film was a depiction of how the lack of empathy and emotions, our imperfections, make us humans and entirely different with our reasoning than artificial intelligence, regardless of how intelligent it may be.

Having seen how AI can become really good with conversations and sounding human now, especially since the demo of OpenAI's latest model, GPT-4o, it was less fiction-like to see that implemented in the film, and refreshing, too.

I think the most exciting things for me were the interactions with the AI, the robotic suits and their sophistication, and the action (the fights and all).

However, the film was mostly centred on Jennifer Lopez. I wasn't quite liking how many of the characters I hoped would play interesting roles in the film weren't given much spotlight.

Atlas is a film worth watching again. I recommend it to people who have an interest in sci-fi and robots. I'll give it a rating of 8/10.