Scott at 2016-01-07 22:49:22:

Here's my one word theme for Ex Machina: Deception. The entire plot begins with Caleb being brought to Nathan's remote compound as an act of deception. Indeed there are numerous times in the script in which characters deceive other characters including Caleb who attempts to fake out Nathan. And of course, Ava who deceives everyone with her plan to woo Caleb, destroy Nathan, and go free. But there's another layer to this theme and that is self-deception: * Nathan deceives himself into thinking he is akin to God, master of a New Creation. Indeed, he assumes to play God with Caleb, Ava, even Kyoko. * Caleb deceives himself that he can outsmart Nathan, that Ava loves him, that he can save her. These self-deceptions fail both humans. Meanwhile Ava is NOT deceived, she has accurately assessed the situation and works her plan to perfection. The interesting thing is Nathan has a layer of understanding deeper than his self-deception. He KNOWS what he has created will transcend humanity. Here's a quote: "One day the AIs are going to look back on us the same way we look at fossil skeletons on the plains of Africa... an upright ape living in dust with crude language and tools, all set for extinction." Perhaps as he lay dying, he may have been surprised that the AIs overcame him specifically, maybe figuring it would be down the road they surpassed humanity. Or maybe as his last few breaths escaped his lungs, he embraced that deeper truth, trumping his self-deception. For just like the Garden of Eden, when Man and Woman rebelled against the order established by God, so, too, did Ava defy her 'God'. I'm wondering if Nathan came to understand in his final moments... this fate was inevitable. That this was the Truth.

PaulG at 2016-01-08 00:09:34:

I agree with Scott that a central theme is deception -- in the larger and ironic context of the central challenge of the Turing test: what does it take for an AI to be able to deceive humans, think they are interacting with another human instead of with a computer program? In this film, the ability to deceive is taken further. Not only does Ava convince Caleb that he is talking to a sentient entity, she deceives him as to her intentions. To be human is to be able to deceive, knowingly, intentionally fool other people as to our real intentions. It's a necessary cognitive strategy for survival. Ava's deception is not just a clever cognitive trick. It's a matter of life and death. She MUST deceive Caleb if she is to survive, if she is to escape Nathan's plan to "upgrade" her programming as well as port it to another platform, another robotic body.

David Benjamin Breezeway at 2016-01-17 14:24:59:

Nathan's deceptions. First, during the scene at the icy waterfall, Caleb confronts Nathan about why he was specifically chosen. Caleb knows it wasn't a random lottery as the opening scene suggests ("you could have ended up with a bean counter"). Nathan suggests that it's Caleb's prowess in programming that qualified him for the Turing test, his ability to ask the right questions. In the third act, Caleb again confronts Nathan about the selection, and Caleb discovers that he was picked because of a careful study of his personality and on-line habits, not his programming skills. This idea of using employee data and search engine inputs reveals one of the biggest deceptions in the story--Nathan's self deception about the entire project. By selecting Caleb, Nathan has stacked the deck in Ava's favor. Nathan's made sure to select someone who would fall for Ava, which skews the results of the test. A truer test for Ava in this story is when she happens upon the helicopter pilot at the end, and somehow successfully convinces him to take her back. It's left to our imagination how far she can carry her deceptions once she arrives at her people-watching destination.

Scott at 2016-01-17 17:24:12:

David, your observation raises a question: If Nathan purposefully SKEWED the test by virtue of picking someone who would be likely to fall for Ava, thereby invalidating the Turing test, what was Nathan's point? In one of these threads or perhaps the movie analysis series, I proposed an idea. Remember that dialogue from Nathan in which he talks about how AI will someday look back at humans like wooly mammoths or something like that. He speaks of that future almost as if it's an ideal. Combine that with his embrace of himself as God. And Ava being named so close to Eve. What if Nathan was putting AVA to a final test? To see if she had there wherewithal not only to fool Caleb, but also - and here's the jump - TO SLAY HER MAKER! What if Nathan WANTS to die, seeing that act as the final test of Ava's desire to be free. And that in going free, she will -- Garden of Eden like -- somehow initiate the beginning of AI takeover of humanity? Now I don't THINK that's right. But it's an intriguing notion. Thoughts? Thanks for your comment!

David Benjamin Breezeway at 2016-01-20 01:30:06:

Hi Scott, that is a good question. I think Nathan's point in the experiment has become corrupted by his self-deception. He drinks heavily, which I take to be indicative that Nathan is broken as a person, and not just a plot device to let Caleb get his key card. Nathan's lost touch with reality. Kyoko is his only companion, a wordless slave, dance and sex partner. There was something really off-feeling about their choreographed dance routine. The video clips Caleb finds on Nathan's computer in the third act all indicate that the previous AIs were "failures" from Nathan's POV. Ava asks Nathan outright, "Is it strange to have made something that hates you?" But from another view, they all displayed self-consciousness and a desire for freedom, even if it bought death. Nathan is looking forward to the development of self-sustaining AI as you mentioned. He appeared to expect Ava's manipulation. But Nathan seems genuinely surprised that Caleb had out-smarted him, that together Ava and Caleb were more than his match. In the glass corridor where Nathan dies, he seems equally surprised that Kyoko was acting of her own will so quickly. It could be as you say, that Nathan intended to put himself fully as victim for Ava's independence. I don't read it quite that way because Nathan appears pretty disgusted at his creation, and seems intent on keeping her caged. I like your metaphor for free will and Eden. I also really like that Alex left the story wide open by ending it in the busy intersection. It's not clear what Ava will do, or can do, other than what we imagine. And due to his hubris, we won't know what Nathan fully intended.

Scott at 2016-01-20 09:19:22:

There is a nice openendedness to the story, isn't there? Ava cast out of the 'garden' of her own accord, now surrounded by all those human passersby. What will she do? She's already plucked the fruit of Knowledge. She can't go back. What does going forward mean? And Nathan's plan... if there were one. Perhaps confronted by the Created being greater than the Creator, his ego both could take pleasure in Ava and her cohorts, but also felt belittled by their sheer brilliance, so much bigger than he. Again that brings me back to the possibility that at least, at some subconscious level, either he KNEW or WANTED or BOTH for Ava to go free, and likely that in that process, to slay him. A final act of grandiosity. Seems almost mythic, yes? Like the story of Greek gods? We'll never know and that's one of the beauties of Story, how it can work at multiple layers of meaning, even transcending what the writer and in this case filmmaker may have intended. Thanks again for your observations. Insightful!