Can Robots Act? Brace yourself to see AI Robot bring her acting skills to life!

We have often seen Sci-Fi movies powered by computer-simulated reality bring a dystopian future alive to reel life. In a step ahead, an AI (artificial intelligence) robot Erica is all set to star in a movie titled "b" which began filming in Japan in 2019 and is expected wrap up in Europe by June 2021.

Erica's, big break "b" is backed by Bondit Capital Media, which produced Loving Vincent and To the Bone. The other co-producers financing "b" includes New York's 10Ten Media and Happy Moon Productions. "b" is the brainchild of visual effects supervisor Eric Pham, Tarek Zohdy, and Sam Khoze, and explores the journey of an artificially intelligent woman, Erica, who is playing herself. The plot revolves around how Erica escapes from a lab after her scientist creator discovers that his invention to replicate human DNA is dangerous and realizes that he must help his reel creation AI robot Erica escape from the lab.

"b's" producers are yet to finalize a director and actor who would play the role of the human scientist alongside Erica. Initially, British director Tony Kaye was set to direct a different film along with Erica but was dropped due to scheduling conflicts. However, despite lacking a director, the creators have filmed some of Erica's scenes in Japan.

Teaching AI Robots the Art of Method Acting

Erica is developed by Japanese scientists Hiroshi Ishiguro and Kohei Ogawa who have trained her to not just to act but learn the aspects and principles of method acting. Sam Khoze the scriptwriter of "b" says, "In other methods of acting, actors involve their own life experiences in the role, but Erica has no life experiences. She was created from scratch to play the role. We had to simulate her motions and emotions through one-on-one sessions, such as controlling the speed of her movements, talking through her feelings, and coaching character development and body language."

Hiroshi Ishiguro, Kohei Ogawa and the film's creators had to extensively train and coach Erica to replicate human emotions through method acting. Since acting is a tough line and comes with emotions to emulate, the AI robot explicitly designed to play an actress has been programmed with the essential skill sets required to be an actress. To begin with, Erica had no life experiences or emotional memories to learn from, the scientists and creators had to train to develop her character as a method actor by adjusting her body language, emotions and experiencing the scenes.

The advent of AI Robots

While Artificial Intelligence-powered characters seem like a niche, AI and disruptive technologies are quickly becoming an indispensable part of the dynamic entertainment industry. The fear of corona virus and social distancing adds to the fact that the trend of technology backed movies is not going anywhere.

While Erica is all set to star as an actress, we have begun to walk on a slippery slope that could lead Artificially Intelligent actors becoming increasingly more prominent in Hollywood. An exciting new trend is just about to stream in a movie theater near you!