Streaming tips

AI: Friend or foe?

After Yang

Most stories about artificial intelligence present the technology as a menace. This powerful 2022 film flips the script. Justin H. Min plays Yang, an adult android purchased to be a companion to a couple’s adopted Chinese daughter. When Yang breaks down, the family grieves, but surprise discoveries in Yang’s memory bank help the trio move on. YouTube

Ex Machina

In Alex Garland’s brilliant 2014 sci-fi drama, a young programmer is invited to his boss’ isolated home and develops romantic feelings for a humanoid named Ava. That sets up a horrifying twist. HBO Max

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

Steven Spielberg’s underrated 2001 drama gives the tale of Pinocchio a futuristic update: A childlike android, played by Haley Joel Osment, seeks to become a real boy after being cast out by his adoptive human parents. Paramount+

Humans

This superb recent series, which ran for three seasons, focuses on androids, known as synths, that have become the must-have domestic help of status-conscious humans. Though built to be unfeeling, synths are evolving, making the manner in which they’re treated a matter of profound consequence. $25 for 24 episodes, Vudu

Blade Runner

Ridley Scott’s sci-fi noir is still the gold standard for layered stories about human/AI relations. Harrison Ford stars as an ex-cop tasked with taking out renegade “replicants.” A replicant played by Sean Young complicates his mission. HBO Max

The Terminator

Another AI classic. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a cyborg assassin sent from an AI-ruled future to prevent humans to come from mounting an uprising. HBO Max