Study on Pinocchio/Robot and Moral Patiency in A.I.

This study analyzes the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence, directed by Steven Spielberg, through a theoretical and philosophical comparison with the narrative and themes of Pinocchio and Giorgio Agamben’s discussion of Pinocchio. A.I. is based on the short story “Super-Toys Last All Summer Long” by Brian Aldiss. The film has gained renewed attention in recent years, particularly with the exponential advancement of artificial intelligence technologies such as ChatGPT. This resurgence has spurred the creation of numerous films, stories, and philosophical treatises addressing the ethical implications and significance of AI. I argue that the concept of moral patiency—the ethical status of vulnerable entities such as robots and other nonhuman beings—must be examined in relation to moral agency, typically attributed to human subjects. In the film, David is a humanoid robot who longs to become a real boy capable of receiving love from his human mother, Monica. After being abandoned by Monica upon the miraculous recovery of her biological son from a coma, David embarks on a quest to transform into a real child and reclaim her love. David’s journey exposes a dystopian vision of a posthuman world in which robots experience suffering, alienation, and destruction. The allegorical parallels with Pinocchio further illuminate the limitations of both moral patiency and moral agency in posthuman narratives. Through this comparison, the study explores the ethical complexities and philosophical questions raised by the emergence of sentient artificial beings.