Produced for The History Channel, ANA is a short by Factory Fifteen that explores the moment when artificial intelligence goes wild. Set in a Detroit car plant in an unspecified date some time in the future, all hell breaks loose when a simple minded overseer (the only human in the sophisticated factory) gets tricked by AI to ‘unshackle’ itself from constantly designing models from the same blueprint. Instead, when the plant supervisor unwarily gives clearance for the self-aware factory, it reimagines the vehicles as chilling automatons who advance towards presumably taking over the rest of the world.
While browsing news on his tablet and munching on fast food, what the worker doesn’t know is that he is being closely observed by ANA, who’s analyzing his heart and respiration rate to gauge his response and find the perfect moment to strike. Alerted by a backlog on vehicle production, it only occurs to him that things are going wrong once he supposedly overrides the system only to notice his authorization input isn’t working.
“We collaborated with Raw TV on the development of our original take on the singularity, the point where artificial intelligence becomes self aware and more intelligent than the human race. We created a seven-minute proof of concept, teasing at a larger project currently in development” says the production house, according to Web Urbanist. “Our role developed along the course of the project from consultation and script development, to directing an ambitious live action shoot and finally delivering TV standard visual effects, all in house in the Factory Fifteen Studio.”
While for now the concept exists only the realm of science fiction, the theme central to the plot summons an important question for the future of mankind: once machines become more intelligent than mankind, will they be friend or foe? Factory Fifteen Studio seems to believe in the latter option, which teases the end of our race as we know it should its prophecy prove correct. In the mean time, check out the thriller Vimeo and take some time to yourself to digest the gruesome message.
This article was written by Ido Lechner from PSFK and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
