A.I. Artificial Intelligence · reception & legacy

How A.I. Artificial Intelligence has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Dismissed by many in 2001 as an awkward Kubrick-Spielberg hybrid — too cold for Spielberg fans, too sentimental for Kubrick devotees — it's since climbed into 'best of the century' conversations, with critic Mark Kermode famously issuing a public apology to Spielberg for panning it.

What's debated

The eternal fight: is the ending saccharine Spielberg schmaltz or the bleakest thing he ever shot — especially once fans learned which parts were actually Kubrick's ideas and which were Spielberg's.

Its footprint

Its viral marketing spawned 'The Beast,' the legendary alternate reality game that started with a mysterious 'sentient machine therapist' credit hidden in the trailer — a founding moment of ARG culture.

Where it stands

A textbook canon climber: the misunderstood-in-its-time film that cinephiles now hand you as proof that turn-of-the-century Spielberg was doing his strangest, most daring work.

Named by the director

Influences Steven Spielberg has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

• Stanley Kubrick — Spielberg openly made the film as a continuation of Kubrick's decades-long project, working from Kubrick's treatment and hundreds of his commissioned storyboards after Kubrick personally urged him to direct it.