MS 183 PZ -Cinema and AI

Institution: Pitzer College

Description: This course surveys Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Hollywood cinema and beyond. Through close engagement with select films supported by weekly readings, we will explore the emergence of AI in the context of narrative cinema and examine the evolving dynamics between humans and artificial intelligence on screen from Kubrick?s 2001: A Space Odyssey to present day films like The Creator and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning. As we track the development of AI across film history, we will ask why dystopic themes and the threat of human annihilation or replacement tend to recur in AI related films. We will ask: How does the role of AI develop in narrative cinema as technological advancements in machine learning evolve? How do relationships between AI and humans change across genres? How has Hollywood envisioned, and continues to envision, a future where AI is integral to everyday life? In this course, students will be asked to utilize AI and LLM (large language model) programs throughout the semester to engage with the questions raised in class. We will also use machine learning systems frequently and intimately throughout the semester to test the claims made about AI in fictional contexts while assessing for ourselves in real time its virtues and constraints.