First Ever Robot Cast as Movie Lead, This is Not a Joke

American History X director Tony Jaye's new movie, 2nd Born, will feature the first ever specially trained AI robot in a lead role.
This is a really cool idea, but I have to wonder if AI and robotics are advanced enough for the robot to be able to give a convincing performance.

 

Yeah, there probably are a few actors out there it will be able to out act.

 

If the robot’s being controlled by a human, isn’t that human the actor?

If they have AI robots that can react to where the actors are standing and when they finish their lines without being directly controlled, that’s more impressive AI than I thought existed.

 

I'm assuming since they're talking about teaching it acting methods, that it will react independently.

 

I'm more interested about the robot's code than I am about its movie.

 

Well, I guess we just took one step closer to this becoming a reality:

 

And now we will need a second new Oscar category...

 

Eh. Can't be any worse than Nicholas Cage.

 

I’m intrigued by this because I am a programmer looking to get more into AI, but whatever you’re imagining this robot is, it probably isn’t.

I know exactly what AI can currently do and not do. Maybe, it can be programmed to say the right lines, move to the right place, make the right expressions, and determine for itself who is standing where and when they are done with their lines. So it can talk at the right time and be looking at the right actor at the right time. Maybe it can even identify the emotional expressions of the actors and respond to them with subtle facial movements.

But it won’t have any understanding of what it is doing and why, it will just be following commands and looking for visual and auditory cues. So it’s more a special effect than an actor.

Are they hiring people to program the robot?

 

Johny "Alive" Five did a good job. His performance was better than E.T.'s.

 

I'll wait for it to get to the Spice Channel. Er, I mean Netflix...

 

He's not a robot, just a sleepwalker, like Harrison Ford.

 

I expected no less from someone with a Calculon avatar.

 

I skimmed over the article briefly; I don't see if it says whether the robot will be playing a robot or a human.

Kor

 

I can't imagine that SAG would be very happy about this...a robot actor doesn't have to get paid, does it? So if this takes off, I'd guess that SAG would be worried about human actors losing work.

Fixed that for ya

 

The programmers have to get paid.

We're a few decades off from having robots who can successfully portray humans who are supposed to appear as completely human. We're closer to having perfect photorealistic animation.

Frankly human actors have much more to worry about from perfect photorealistic animation than they do from robots.

 

Kubrick's mad dream is coming true!