Artificial intelligence outing is a cut above

THE philosophical debate pitting Man versus Machine gets an interesting treatment in Ex Machina, a spare, smart and provocative science fiction film about a programmer who comes face to face with the woman of his dreams - only she is a robot.

A machine's (in)ability to exhibit intelligent thought that is indistinguishable from a human being's has long been a quality obsessed over and sought after by tech geeks, mathematicians and research scientists. This movie poses the question: What if the future is now?

Having a romantic attachment to a machine is not a novel concept, as evidenced by a film such as Spike Jonze's Her (2013) where a loner played by Joaquin Phoenix develops feelings for his computer's operating system, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. But a computer with a heavenly voice is no match for Ava, the exquisite-looking creature that is central to the narrative of Ex Machina.