# End of "A.I." -- what were those things? (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 20, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405 "2006-06-20T05:05:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/41 "2006-06-22T08:48:47Z")
God, I am a moron. I always thought they were aliens too, but it does make so much more sense that they were advanced mechs. I simply could not shake Spielberg’s (annoying) obsession with kindly, benevolent spacemen to see the robot angle. Glad he got over it for WotW though… ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/42 "2006-06-22T16:43:14Z")
David’s first appearence home. He is behind a glass door that distorts his shape. He very slowly approaches the door. The shoti is long, way too long you might think, but it is long to imprint the distorted image of David the robot on your mind. The fact that the creatures at the end have the same shape as the distorted image of David is your clue. Now that shape is like one of the types of aliens in CE3K but this movie is not a sequeal to CE3K so you really shouldn’t consider that when trying to interpert this one. Wait a sec, Are we talking about A.I.? Did fall into a black hole travel back in time? _AGAIN!_ God I need to clean my apt so those things quit forming. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/43 "2006-06-22T17:49:58Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] I still want a Teddy! [/QUOTE] I’m not certain you do. Perhaps the role Teddy plays is to lead David away from innocence. As such, he is a classical figure. Another, similar, figure is the Serpent in Eden. Or, am I misreading this? I’m going by what I’ve read here; I’ve never seen the film. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/44 "2006-06-22T19:58:49Z")
Yes, they’re very advanced mechas at the end, not aliens. I read plenty of comments by Spielberg and the production team to back that up. I’m with **Equipoise**. I liked AI very much, although I kept thinking that a lot of problems could’ve been avoided if only David had been programmed with the Three Laws: no dragging his brother into the pool, no destroying other packaged Davids. I also found the scene where David is abandoned in the forest to be almost unbearably painful and sad. My pragmatic side wondered why they couldn’t just make another mecha who looked and acted exactly like David’s “mom,” and let them share eternity together. But my sentimental and romantic side loved that David and his mom had one perfect, happy day together before going quietly to sleep forever as Teddy climbs up on the bed. A perfect ending, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/45 "2006-06-22T20:14:34Z")
I, too, am a moron because I thought they were aliens also. I also think that those scenes at the end felt tacked on. If the point of the story was that it is wrong to make a sentient being just for shits and giggles, then David finding the Blue Fairy and sitting there forever makes that point pretty well. The alie. . . robots at the end seemed superfluous to me. ---
**Author:** ![JustAnotherGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58f4c7/32.png) [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/46 "2006-06-22T20:15:52Z")
[QUOTE=wm–] I’ve watched the movie closely several times (it’s one of my personal favorites) and I’ve always assumed they were aliens-- either biological or mechanical beings that came to Earth from somewhere else to study its extinct civilization. If there are obvious clues that the beings originated on Earth, I must have really misinterpreted them! What are these clues? [/QUOTE] The former was my first impression, too. I think Spielberg went out of his way to make the advanced mecha look alien and organic, on purpose. However, as for obvious clues (well, obvious, the second time around), read what the alien-looking robots say. They speak of David being built by “The Creators.” As in the humans who created the first robots. They also speak to him of trying to resurrect the Creators. (Where’s the Priest/ Pally/ resto Druid when you need one?) ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/47 "2006-06-23T09:01:04Z")
[major hijack] While we’re on the subject of a 5-year-old film, IMDB says that the character of _“TV face”_, the mecha that says 75 years ago he was Time magazine’s mecha of the year, is some actor named Bobby Harwell. But I swear it was **R. Lee Ermey** … [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/48 "2006-06-23T09:21:56Z")
I always thought they were ET but wikipedia is sure that they are mecha. “The debate over the ending is further complicated by the fact that many viewers mistook the future mechas for extraterrestrials.” ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/49 "2006-06-23T09:33:48Z")
[QUOTE=Cliffy] They’re robots, and it isn’t a happy ending – the epilogue of the movie, IMHO, should demonstrate that David is a monster. Throughout the film, David does horrible things (tries to drown his brother, smashes all the other Davids, etc.), which the audience tries to rationalize (Oh, he just doesn’t understand!) because he’s cute and he’s the protagonist. But at the end, the robots tell David he can have one day with his mother, but to do so will destroy her soul forever, and he doesn’t even hesitate, because he doesn’t actually care about her, he is merely an id machine. This should force us to recognize how many excuses we’ve made for him. –Cliffy [/QUOTE] The ending has many versions. One is that the whole thing was an illusion planted in David’s mind by the robots. Wasn’t there a scene of the robots looking into some table with a TV on it and watching David interact? If so it could’ve been an illusion since they are so much more advanced than he is. Plus supposedly David commits suicide after his mother goes to sleep. > **[A.I. Artificial Intelligence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.I._%28film%29)** > > A.I. Artificial Intelligence (or simply A.I.) is a 2001 American science fiction drama film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The screenplay by Spielberg is based on a screen story by Ian Watson adapting the 1969 short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" by Brian Aldiss. Set in a futuristic society, the film stars Haley Joel Osment as David, a childlike android uniquely programmed with the ability to love. Jude Law, Frances O'Connor, Brendan Gleeson and William Hurt star in supporti... “The film’s ending has been the subject of much debate. Many allege that it was really a dark ending disguised as a happy one. They suggest that the resurrected Monica was, in fact, an illusion planted in David’s mind by the future mechas so that David could finally end his long quest and terminate his program. They point to the fact that resurrected Monica had a much warmer persona than her original self, and that during the long day she spent with David, she never asked about her husband or her son. The future mecha warn David not to mention her past family because it might cause Monica to fall into despair, and David eagerly complies…Also, in the DVD’s supplemental material, composer John Williams confirms that David “dies” at the end of the film; after Monica passes away, he shuts down, essentially committing suicide.” Maybe the mechas wanted him to kill himself so they could disassemble him and read his program better. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/50 "2006-06-23T11:11:40Z")
[QUOTE=JustAnotherGeek] (Where’s the Priest/ Pally/ resto Druid when you need one?) [/QUOTE] Hey! Where’s the shammy love? ---
**Author:** ![JustAnotherGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58f4c7/32.png) [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/51 "2006-06-23T14:05:18Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Hey! Where’s the shammy love? [/QUOTE] Sorry; my bad! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/52 "2006-06-23T15:30:19Z")
[QUOTE=Wesley Clark] I always thought they were ET but wikipedia is sure that they are mecha. “The debate over the ending is further complicated by the fact that many viewers mistook the future mechas for extraterrestrials.” [/QUOTE] Heh, I wrote that. Well I wrote initially "The debate over the ending is also complicated by the fact that many viewers of the film mistake the androids who rescue David for aliens. " ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/53 "2006-06-23T15:45:13Z")
[QUOTE=Roland Orzabal] …clearly the creatures are robots with the ability to read the “minds” of centuries-old robots whose technologies would have long since become obsolete simply by touching them with a fingertip, and display their “thoughts” on TV screens in their chests for no apparent reason. [/QUOTE] [Like this?](http://www.teletubbies.com/) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/54 "2006-06-23T20:36:11Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] But my sentimental and romantic side loved that David and his mom had one perfect, happy day together before going quietly to sleep forever as Teddy climbs up on the bed. A perfect ending, IMHO. [/QUOTE] Mom vanishes when the day is over – but it’s not clear to me that David goes to sleep forever, or leaves Teddy alone. ---
**Author:** ![jawdirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jawdirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jawdirk)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/55 "2006-06-23T22:03:02Z")
Ok, we all agree that the grey things at the end are robots. But when I saw the movie, I also noticed that the things that were carying them through the ice excavations were precursors of _monoliths_. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/56 "2006-06-23T22:48:26Z")
[QUOTE=Wesley Clark] Also, in the DVD’s supplemental material, composer John Williams confirms that David “dies” at the end of the film; after Monica passes away, he shuts down, essentially committing suicide." [/QUOTE] However, that does not happen in the movie. You don’t see him die. Commentary by the film’s composer after the fact isn’t part of the movie’s content. There really isn’t one answer to this question. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/57 "2006-06-23T22:52:22Z")
[QUOTE=Wesley Clark] The ending has many versions. [/QUOTE] Nitpick: It has, perhaps, many **interpretations.** It has only one version. (Unless there’s a director’s cut I never heard of.) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/58 "2006-06-24T01:40:32Z")
[QUOTE=Equipoise] I take it you’d never heard of Kubrick or had never seen one of his movies, and/or didn’t know _anything_ about the history of the film. What, did you go to the movie thinking “Ah, it’s a Spielberg film! He makes cute, fuzzy movies about cute, non-fuzzy aliens and slapstick comedies…can’t wait!” I wasn’t confused. I’m so glad. And I’m sorry, but people who turn the movie off before the actual ending really don’t need to be watching a movie like **AI** in the first place. Stick with **ET**. HE’S an alien. [/QUOTE] Please accept this response in the Jackie Mason tradition: "What, I’m supposed to study a film first so I understand the ending… who knew movies were so complicated”. It’s just a matter of time before someone figures out which Pink Floyd album goes with 2001 (A Space Oddity). The viewer will immediately be transported to the black-onyx altar of Kubrick where the meaning of life will be revealed on a bed of romaine lettuce. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2006, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/59 "2006-06-24T11:48:41Z")
[QUOTE=Magiver] Please accept this response in the Jackie Mason tradition: "What, I’m supposed to study a film first so I understand the ending… who knew movies were so complicated”. It’s just a matter of time before someone figures out which Pink Floyd album goes with 2001 (A Space Oddity). The viewer will immediately be transported to the black-onyx altar of Kubrick where the meaning of life will be revealed on a bed of romaine lettuce. [/QUOTE] Do we get a choice of salad dressings? ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405/60 "2006-06-24T21:27:03Z")
_davenportavenger:_ > [@](#): > > Incidentally, you often hear people saying that that scene must have been tacked on by Spielberg. In fact, it was in the original Kubrick script. FWIW. Well, according to Kirk Douglas, Kubrick wanted, believe it or not, to give _Paths of Glory_ a happy ending. Maybe Kubrick, like Spielberg, was a gifted director but a terrible writer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-of-a-i-what-were-those-things-open-spoilers/361405.md?page=4)