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I introduced the 4F’s tool in my analysis of the short film "Resistance". In this article, I will use the 4F’s to analyze “Sprites”, a short film written and directed by Kyle Bogart. The YouTube title of the film immediately grabbed my attention: “Human actors are obsolete. Now there are A.I. holographic projections.” According to “Dreams and Fears of a Blue Dot”, the premise of “Sprites” is closer to truth rather than fiction: "they will replace mostly jobs with a high intellectual content, jobs based on strategizing & planning & diagnosing disease...AI managers, AI doctors, AI writers, AI composers, AI actors, AI lawyers...about 60% of current jobs will be lost in the next 10 years."
The protagonist is Leslie, a director who is “convinced that a human actor could only deliver the rich, compelling performance she needs for her film.” I think this is her fIaw - her strong belief that only humans can deliver, or to flip the coin, that technology, represented by the Sprites, would somehow diminish the authenticity of her art. I would say her fear is the one that many of us have, that A.I will take our jobs and worse, will take the jobs that we believe should only be done by humans. I explored a bit of this in my article "Health, Artificial Intelligence and DAO: Instant Doctor versus AI-Pocalypse
Psychology today article, Dr. Karl Albrecht lists five basic fears that human beings have. Where does the fear of A.I fall in this list? I think it falls in all five of the fears: “the fear of annihilation, of ceasing to exist…the fear of losing any part of our precious bodily structure...the fear of being immobilized, paralyzed, restricted, enveloped, overwhelmed, entrapped, imprisoned, smothered, or otherwise controlled by circumstances beyond our control….the fear of abandonment, rejection, and loss of connectedness; of becoming a non-person…the fear of humiliation, shame, or any other mechanism of profound self-disapproval…the fear of the shattering or disintegration of one's constructed sense of lovability, capability, and worthiness.”
Leslie’s friend and foe is Karen, who is also her producer. She sides with the movie studio by wanting Leslie to “audition a few sprites, in order to keep production costs low.” On one hand, Karen is being a good friend by wanting Leslie’s movie to come into being with less hassle. On the other hand, from Leslie’s point of view, Karen is her foe because she wants Leslie to compromise her artistic vision by using Sprites instead of human actors.
Writer-director Kyle Bogart chooses simplicity over spectacle in this science fiction short film: “the careful, measured build-up at the beginning of “Sprites” pays off with a rich, emotionally satisfying ending that challenges Leslie’s perception of artificial intelligence, entertains genuinely deep questions about the possibilities of artificial intelligence - and explores a notion of humanity rooted not just in the body, but in the potential for self-awareness and growth.”
Questions about the intersection of art and technology tend to lead to questions about the nature of art itself. What is art? Who decides what "good art" is? Are NFT's real art? Is the performance of an A.I. actor real art?
“I play a good game but not as good as you
I can be a little cold but you can be so cruel
I'm not made of brick, I'm not made of stone
I'm only human on the inside”
- “Human” by The Pretenders
