Ethical Dilemmas and Identity Construction in Artificial Intelligence (2001): An Analysis from the Perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism

Abstract

Utilizing the framework of ethical literary criticism, this study analyzes Steven Spielberg’s Artificial Intelligence (2001). The film depicts a climate-ravaged future where David, a childlike robot, is adopted and then abandoned by a human family. His quest to become a “real boy” via the Blue Fairy serves as a narrative core to examine human-robot ethics. The analysis investigates the characters’ ethical predicaments and choices, and explores three core ethical issues: the “human-object” dichotomy framing robots as commodities; human suspicion and hatred toward robots driven by economic competition and existential anxiety; and the subversion of ethical identities as robots assume familial roles. Key findings reveal that: first, despite robotic anthropomorphism, the human-robot relationship remains a hierarchical “subject-object” dynamic; second, the subversion of traditional ethical identities leads to an unresolved ethical predicament in human-robot relationships; and third, David’s choices—from imitation to asserting uniqueness—constitute genuine ethical selection, marking his transformation into a being with emergent self-awareness. This research not only expands the application of ethical literary criticism into science fiction film studies but also provides valuable reflections for addressing ethical challenges in real-world AI development.