arpadbeszedes

The documentary was made in 2001 but is still very interesting to watch many years later. David is probably one of the biggest fans of the movie and at the same time a very respected and knowledgeable scientist. According to his own words, the movie made him start his career as a researcher working in various fields of AI (which relate to different properties of the HAL computer including computer vision, text to speech, or even common sense and emotions). This makes the film very authentic. It is about to what degree AI technology managed to achieve in 2001 profecies predicted in 1968 when the movie was made. In retrospect, it is also interesting to think about how much have we advanced since then (in 2018). It turns out that "simpler" tasks such as face recognition, speech, lip reading or playing chess are advanced enough to fool us humans that the other party is not an artificial entity. However, in terms of higher cognitive properties like common sense or emotions, the AI technology advanced close to none in all these decades. The documentary also includes a lot of interesting details about the movie and its making, which is a must for fans. Oh, and it is entertaining too. Unfortunately, it is not publicly available for the general audience, which I believe is a real shame, as it contributes to the general knowledge about AI, its possibilities and limitations, which is again a hot topic today in 2018 (think about autonomous cars and the question of responsibility if one fails, for instance).

Don't listen to some of the "professional" reviewers, this is a great film to watch. There is suspense, romance, humour and lots of atmosphere in this movie. Very nice images of 1930s Budapest and the interiors are great as well. Add to this excellent music, great acting, a not- too-complicated story, and there you have a start for a great evening with your spouse.