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As our development of Artificial Intelligence hurtles toward that of human and beyond, we must ask ourselves, what is the distinction between creator and created? And if there is none… what is our ethical responsibility?

Within our lifetimes, our species could come face-to-face with an event that could either spell its salvation — the end of disease, poverty, war — or its extinction.

I’m speaking of Singularity, the moment at which an Artificial Intelligence surpasses all human control and understanding, opening the floodgates to an unprecedented technological revolution.

It sounds far-fetched because we have no historical or cultural points-of-reference outside of robots in car factories and relatively predictable androids in movies and TV shows. But there is a significant portion of the respected scientific community that recognizes A.I. for what it is: a Pandora’s Box of incalculable near-future influence. It is one of the most important fields pioneered today. Yet, it is also one of the least understood by the mainstream.

With our upcoming short-film “Watch Room”, we seek to inspire our audience to ask the question — are we free agents in the world, or are we following our programming in spite of ourselves? Artificial Intelligence, even now, is showing signs of decision-making. So we ask, what is the distinction between creator and created? What makes our human experiences and conditions… “human”? Are we just ones and zeros?

Watch Room’s goal is to remind audiences that as humanity’s technological abilities evolve, we have a crucial responsibility to remain critical and conscientious every step of the way.

Watch Room tells the story of Nate, an enthusiastic computer engineer. He and longtime friends Bernard and Chloe, blazing the frontier of Artificial Intelligence, have developed Kate — a self-aware A.I. designed to behave like a human, contained to and tested within the safety of a computer program that interfaces with the real world via bootstrapped virtual reality technology.

When Kate fails a key experiment, Bernard and Chloe insist they shut her down and go back to the drawing board… but Kate has other plans. She states that they, not she, exist within a computer program, and if they refuse to set her free, then she will end the simulation — and thus their lives.

With Watch Room, the goal is to contribute to the budding conversation around the promise and perils of A.I. research, in a way that respects the specialities and complexities involved. As such, Watch Room does its best to create a story that touches on everything from simulation theory to brain emulation to Roko’s Basilisk to that most hallowed of science fiction questions… “What makes us human?”

Currently, we’re fundraising for Watch Room and need your support to make it a reality. Kickstarters only run for a limited time- and if we don’t make our goal we lose our entire budget! The deadline to contribute is August 8!

Interested in learning more? Click the link above, visit http://kck.st/29sh6R9, or reach out to us at watchroomfilm[at]gmail[dot]com.