Director Alex Garland pinpoints one brief Ex Machina scene that answers whether Ava has consciousness. Released in 2015, Garland’s sci-fi drama starred Alicia Vikander as an intelligent android being put to the test by her creator (Oscar Isaac), who wishes to determine whether she possesses true consciousness. Marking Garland’s directorial debut, the film raised powerful philosophical questions about the nature of consciousness, while grappling with deep quandaries about the potential sentience of artificially intelligent beings, and whether they should be treated as moral free agents.
