The fear of AI in horror movies: A comparative film analysis through the lens of publics' perceptions of technology

Abstract

Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies investigate the interactions and reciprocal shaping processes among science, technology, and society. This research examines the representation of AI technology in horror movies, focusing on the publics' perception of technology and analyzing how these representations reflect fears, societal anxieties and possible risks associated with AI. This research has a descriptive research design because it aims to identify the socially constructed fear of AI technology in contemporary societies. The qualitative research includes a discourse analysis of the purposefully sampled movies, a focus group study at the Technical University of Munich consisting of seven graduate students attending the Science, Technology and Society (STS) Department's Science and Technology Studies Master of Arts Program, and responses from a generative AI, ChatGPT 3.5, to validate the findings of the focus group study. This research purposefully chose these films based on their popularity over the past five years: Upgrade (2018), Child's Play (2019), and M3gan (2022).The research focuses on these movies because the advancements in AI technology and humanoid robots over the past five years have heightened fears and anxieties about AI.This research encourages critical thought on the effects of technological opacity that influence our interactions with developing technology by investigating the representation of AI technology in movies. Findings show that the representation of AI in the movies are related to current social concerns about unpredictability of emerging technologies and loss of control. The findings of the research may also help to enhance our understanding of the complex relationship between how fear is embedded within publics' perception of technology, and accordingly the social construction of AI. To foster meaningful discussions about the ethical, societal, and cultural impacts of technological advancements, increased transparency and critical engagement with technological processes are required.