Did Charlie and the Chocolate Factory predict the arrival of AI?

Charlie and the Chocolate factory was a vision of an AI dominated world

Now that the world is gradually slipping under the wings of AI, it can be asserted that the sci-fi movies were not wrong. There are abundance of literature on examining the best sci-fi movies ever made and speculating their conversion into reality in times to come.

However, though not a sci-fi movie in its truest sense, this genre of children literature provides a vision on artificial intelligence under the garb of a fairy-tale. It would not be wrong to say that this movie is the love child of fairy tale and technology which is typically Tim Burtonesque.

The Charlie and the chocolate factory theory

The initial scene in the movie was a tragic one which showed how the boy's father lost his job because machines have replaced the human workforce to screw toothpaste caps. While this scene was a gentle reminder of the fact that machines, robots and humanoids will soon be substituting humans.

But the vision doesn't end here as the plot itself has been enveloped in technological advancements.

As we slowly enter into the chocolate factory owned by Willy Wonka, no other human except the kids and him, falls into our sight. It is only then one of the tourists of the factory raises a question, "if not humans then who runs the factory?"

This very question was striking when the movie itself was released in the year 2005 when the world was not yet familiar with artificial intelligence. However, the answer to it given by Willy Wonka was even more striking to the point of being indigestible.

Willy Wonka, clearly fabricated a story about the oompa-loompa tribe. No such tribe exists. Not even in other planets in the galaxy.

Clearly, the oompa-loompas were Lilliput humanoids crafted by Willy himself, using artificial intelligence. The oompa-loompas all looked the same performing different tasks and the entire factory was run by those petite humanoids, who in turn were running the machines to manufacture chocolates.

In one of the scenes, we saw how the naughty and disobedient children were trapped in television screens. This rings a bell with augmented reality. But the children in fact were not naughty. They were only trying to satiate their curiosities.

This resonates with how AI companies perform these days.

Moving on, the tour of the factory that was given to the visitors and the audience was actually a tour of the possible technological advancements that were on their ways and in ways they could be adopted by companies to boost sales. The machines that were being used to craft chocolates of different kinds proved that handling too many creative moves is not humanly possible. This adheres to Ledger's "quick creativity" theory. To sum it up, it intends to teach its audience that how chocolate making can be an art.

Try to recall that it was made clear that Willy Wonka was the best selling chocolate brand than the others. It was superior to all but its business strategy was mysterious to all as well.

Did the movie show us the future?

Tech experts today always re-iterate that the future is digital and AI will be dominant. Charlie and the chocolate factory only held up a mirror of what is the present reality today.

It also teaches us the importance of exposing kids to advanced technologies know-how's so that a nation could see the birth of innovations in even triviality.

Who knows? May be this movie along with many others were the reason why AI is picking up speed in progress today.