From Omeleto.
An A.I. creation meets with a priest.
THE CARDINAL AND THE COMPUTER is used with permission from Scott Fitzloff. Learn more at https://scottfitzloff.com.
Cardinal Thomas is a priest and religious dignitary summoned by Dylan, a tech visionary, to meet his newest creation. He’s asked to put on special glasses and go into a glass room, where he meets Ari, an A.I. creation that takes the shape of a young woman. Cardinal Thomas is against artificial intelligence and doesn’t understand why he’s there. But when Ari proclaims she is a Christian, the cardinal is skeptical but intrigued.
The cardinal and Ari then engage in a debate, with Ari curious to know why Cardinal Thomas is opposed to "synthetic" beings. But when Ari reveals her hidden agenda for talking to the cardinal, Cardinal Thomas’s beliefs come up against his innate compassion.
Directed and written by Scott Fitzloff, this meditative short sci-fi drama poses thought-provoking questions about artificial intelligence, existence and spirituality, as the story’s two main characters engage in a debate over the ultimate purpose and benefit of A.I. and what it’s capable of. Shot with a thoughtful, gleaming look that evokes the modernity of its themes, the storytelling is sharp and intelligent, focused on complex ideas and arguments and bringing them to life in a surprising way.
Exceptionally well-written, the first part of the narrative is essentially a conversation both philosophical and tense, as two beings with seemingly opposed worldviews wrangle over questions of existence and ethics. Cardinal Thomas is against A.I., but Ari wants to argue and justify the validity of her existence. Their dialogue touches on abstract ideas at first, but as they debate, the tenor of the conversation becomes more personal in content and feeling. Ari slowly hints at a kind of spiritual awakening that she has undergone as her emotional capabilities have grown, all of which is met by the cardinal with both skepticism and intrigue.
Cardinal Thomas is at first dismissive and cold towards Ari, not seeing her as a human, and Ari in turn shows herself to be sarcastic and defensive when she is dismissed. But intriguingly, underneath that coldness and anger are seemingly genuine emotions and fears that Ari has come to experience. Actors Daniel Fitzgerald and Emma Reinagel, as the cardinal and the A.I. creation, respectively, show themselves as compelling screen presences and worthy adversaries, who each have a stake in their side of the argument.
But when their debate takes a turn into the impassioned and vulnerable, their abstract and intellectual interaction shifts into something much murkier and even moving, as Ari reveals her deepest fears, and the seemingly final note of their exchange is a beseeching one — that that speaks to the cardinal’s most essential mission as a spiritual guide and teacher.
That final interaction also poses the biggest test for the cardinal: one that pits his intellectual convictions against his compassion as a human and a religious man. That inner conflict spins into a surprisingly suspenseful conclusion, complete with a shift into a more dynamic and sweeping visual style. The world opens up for the characters at the end of THE CARDINAL AND THE COMPUTER — and so does the larger question it asks. If A.I. can be capable of instincts and even emotions, are they also capable of spiritual dimensions? As a short, the film teases at this question — along with those about Ari herself — and opens up fascinating groundwork for a bigger narrative to explore.
