Beata has already been dumped twice. And things with her new boyfriend Lennart also go terribly wrong: the two of them are hardly together when Lennart dies. He had previously complained that Beata kept talking about Pedro, her ex.
Well, even Beata can’t get out of her shell. In this respect, an artificial intelligence like her does not differ from a human being. Emma Braslavsky stars in her science fiction novel The night was pale, the lights blinked of 2019 through such pairings between humans and humanoid AI. Lorenz Schuster has now adapted the material as a radio play. In it, robotics companies promise pure happiness: everyone can have an artificial partner of their choice created and have the relationship of their dreams with him or her.
In reality, Lennart has to take over a used example that has already been retired twice, conditioned by its previous owners. And even the question of possible ownership leads right into the middle of a jumble of questions to which there are no easy answers: Does the AI have an awareness of its own personality? A free will? robot rights? And what follows from the answers?
When Beata cries, it’s only because a program decides so.
In short: Relationships between humans and humanoid AI are at least as complex as those between humans. This is due to both sides: there is a 0.5 per thousand limit for people when dealing with AI, sexist attacks and unauthorized access to their data are prohibited. Only people in their sense of superiority don’t really care.
The robots, on the other hand, no matter how complex they may be programmed, are ultimately not able to think for themselves in this setting either – and also not to feel emotions. When Beata cries, it’s not because she’s mourning Lennart, but because a program determines how she reacts to a death message. Against this background, what is the value of empathy and sincerity?
Emma Braslavsky gains clever and funny moments from this mixture. Especially in scenes in which the cool illusory logic of machine algorithms and inconsistent human action collide.
The night was pale, the lights blinkedBavaria 2, March 25, 2022, 9:05 p.m.