Terminator 2: Judgment Day’s depiction of AI is surprisingly “ahead of its time,” reveals an AI expert. Released in 1991, James Cameron’s critically-acclaimed follow-up to 1984’sThe TerminatorseesArnold Schwarzenegger return as the T-800, this time to protect Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and her son, John (Edward Furlong), from a more advanced T-1000 model (Robert Patrick). As in the first film, AI is a major theme explored in the sequel, particularly as it relates to Skynet becoming sentient and taking control.
In a recent video forInsider, artificial intelligence researcherSasha Luccioni analyzes select scenes fromTerminator 2: Judgment Day, finding them to feature generally accurate portrayals of AI. Luccioni looks at early scenes of Schwarzenegger’s character entering a bar whilst scanning license plates and calculating the height and weight of its patrons, and she reveals that much of what’s depicted in this scene is what AI is used for today. Where the film falls short, however, is in its depiction of the T-800 engaging in combat. Check out the video and Luccioni’s comments below:
“That’s actually something that’s done right now. Every time you go through a toll booth, for example, in the United States or Canada it will read your license plate. It could also figure out what the make of your car is. We’ve gotten really good at object recognition, especially in terms of, like, cars and street scenes, mostly because of autonomous vehicles.
“Estimating someone’s height or approximate weight is definitely something that people use AI for. I would say like in CCTV, surveillance, especially if you’re trying to identify a perpetrator, this is something that AI is trained to do. Whether it does it super well will depend….essentially, for example, if the person’s wearing baggy clothing, whether you have objects around the person.
“If you’re trying to figure out how tall someone is it’s really hard if they’re just like in a bare room where you have no objects that you’re able to use to compare and to triangulate, especially. If a person is beside a car or beside a pool table, then you can really say, ‘well, it’s probably this height.’
“It would be really hard for AI to do hand-to-hand combat in a way that’s really reactive. There’s an element of trying to predict what someone will do and reacting quite quickly, and AI is typically not very good at predicting what people [will do] because we’re so unpredictable and so spontaneous.
“As human beings, we do this almost subconsciously. If you had to throw something at someone who was running, you would throw it at where you think they would be in a second or two. But for an AI, they would have to predict the trajectory of someone’s movement and then grab them at that time.
“I would rate this clip an eight [out of 10]. This movie is definitely ahead of its time, and I think it actually came to shape a lot of the AI research that was done in the next decades.”
What Terminator 2: Judgment Day’s AI Accuracy Means For The Franchise
How A Feeling Of Plausibility Helped The Film Succeed
Themovies in theTerminatorfranchiseare all firmly within the realm of science-fiction, and the real limitations of technology and AI are clearly being stretched in the name of entertainment. The high accuracy score that Luccioni awards the Cameron film, however, speaks to the overall plausibility of the narrative, and the real-life science and technology that are included in the larger-than-life narrative.This feeling of plausibility is part of why the first twoTerminatormovies remain so beloved, as what’s happening on screen may not be real, but it feels like it could be.
Every Terminator Movie & TV Show, Ranked
A staggering 40 years since it launched, the Terminator franchise shows no signs of slowing down, but not all Terminator movies and shows are hits.
Terminator 2: Judgment Dayis widely considered one of the best sequels ever made, and it currently enjoys a strong 91% onRotten Tomatoes. The Popcornmeter score, previously called the audience score, is even better at 95%.Terminator 2was also a major box office success, grossing $520.9 million worldwide. This attention to detail and forethought when it comes to technology is actually a mainstay of Cameron’s larger filmography, and even his recentAvatarmovies feature plausible-feeling extensions of current technology.
Our Take On Terminator 2’s AI Depiction
The Unrealistic Elements Add Entertainment Value
There is a lot of fear and there are a lot of questions regarding AI currently, but purely from an entertainment point of view,Terminator 2: Judgment Daystands as the perfect example of why making technology the villain is so much fun.Patrick’s T-1000is formidable and terrifying even though, as an intelligent, liquid metal being, he is not realistic.
Though the AI combat in the film may not be accurate,embellishment in these areas is necessary to tell a compelling, action-filled story. This mix of entertainment value and thoughtful considerations of technology and its capabilities ultimately collide to makeTerminator 2: Judgment Daya Cameron classic.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Cast
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a sci-fi action film directed by James Cameron, set ten years after the original. It chronicles a new effort to eliminate future rebellion leader John Connor, despite a reprogrammed terminator dispatched to safeguard him.
