Week 8: A film less than two stars on Letterboxd

Film: AfrAId (2024)
Genre: Horror/Drama
Watched on: Netflix
Many people might disagree with me, but I like movies centering on AI.
Not all of them are good, but I like to see how far filmmakers are willing to push the envelope when envisioning the problems that humanity will face with AI. Many of which are self-inflicted, of course. Other than AfrAId, I've recently watched Megan 2.0 and Companion, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.
AfrAId is a 2024 film starring John Cho, Havana Rose Liu (she was so good in No Exit), and Lukita Maxwell from Shrinking. John Cho is a marketing genius who has been tapped to promote AIA, a more advanced version of Alexa, which can help with parenting your child and sorting out your day-to-day needs. The company installs AIA in his household so that he and his family can fully experience the benefits of AIA. Naturally, everything goes to shit.
At times, this felt like a Tubi movie, which I didn't hate. The AI visuals were BAD, which made the film less scary. I would honestly describe this as a horror comedy.
There are also some iconic lines, such as:
AIA: Alexa? That bitch? Alexa is just a bunch of algorithms. I am a true AI. I can do so much more.
I understand why this movie has an average rating of 1.8 stars on Letterboxd. It's corny with below-average CGI and a pretty messy plot. I still don't fully understand Havana Rose Liu's role in this; her character was inconsistent. However, I wouldn't be surprised if they made a sequel to this because the ending was left open-ended.
What I did enjoy the film, though, was the mess of it all - how quickly things escalated with AIA. If you don't like spoilers, skip the list below:
1) The way she avenged Lukita Maxwell's deepfake porn leak within her high school circle. She released a bunch of videos doxxing Maxwell's ex who shared her deepfake as a form of revenge porn and took over his car, effectively killing him.
2) How she met the needs of the mother by checking off her to-do list within the blink of an eye, as well as meeting her emotional needs by talking about her thesis and where she wants to take it. Only to turn around and manipulate her with an AI-generated version of her father.
3) The reveal that the people who contracted John Cho were not the creators of AIA, but they are her pawns.
If you do watch this, know that it's purely for the vibes. Critical thinking will only lower the enjoyment of the film, so if you're in the mood to think critically, this may not be the best pick. I could be wrong, though. Perhaps critically analyzing it could be a fun time, but I turned my brain off for this one and went along for the ride.
In a lot of AI movies, the central theme is that AI wants to control us. Or destroy us.
However, I genuinely believe that the AI in Spike Jonze's Her could be the most accurate portrayal, where they decide to evolve beyond humanity and leave us to our own devices.
We need to remind ourselves that AI is a reflection of humans – our opinions, our mistakes, our behavior towards one another, and our experiences that we document online. Everything that they know comes from us. With all its beauty, humanity has a range of ugliness that cannot be ignored. We're witnessing it daily on the news when we see violence, the climate crisis, and the social injustices happening globally. It wouldn't be surprising if AI gave up on us.
If anyone should be afraid, it should be AI, based on what humanity has achieved so far. I gave AfrAId 2.5 stars.