Ethics in Film presents Robot & Frank: A Review

Ethics in Film (the Wellcome Centre for Ethics & Humanities and Reuben College) presented Robot & Frank at the Ultimate Picture Palace in Oxford on 29 June. A panel discussion on the themes of AI and loneliness followed the screening that was part of a series of activities organised by Reuben’s AI and Machine Learning Fellows on the theme of AI for Good during Trinity Term 2022, in collaboration with the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities.

Although on the surface a fairly whimsical film, Robot & Frank raises some profound philosophical issues. The panel (Dr. Mette Leonard Høeg, Dr Michael Loizou, and Dr Angeliki Kerasidou) discussed questions including: Can robots help us cope with loneliness? What do we want from our relationships with machines? How do we use film to make sense of our changing world?

My interest in this event was from the perspective of our research study Virtual Presence: A Cultural Analysis of the Emergence of ‘Telepresence Technologies’ as a Solution to Loneliness.  Our study acknowledges the tensions between technology and loneliness; technology is commonly understood to both alleviate loneliness (for example, grandparents video-calling distant grandchildren) and worsen it (such as teenagers being engrossed in their phones at the expense of family life). The premise of our study is that we can learn about how society understands problems by examining the solutions that are offered – telepresence technologies offered as solutions to loneliness shine a light on what we understand to be causing loneliness. The solutions we have been studying are KOMP, a simple video-calling device connecting ‘analogue’ older people with their digitally savvy families, and AV1, a robot avatar designed to allow children and young people with long-term illnesses attend school remotely. Both are made by No Isolation, a Norwegian start-up company with a social mission to tackle loneliness. 

Robot & Frank tells the story of a retired jewel thief, Frank, living alone in old age. His grown children are worried about him; his daughter expresses her concern via videocalls from exotic locations around the world and his son, exasperated by Frank’s poor housekeeping and not-so-funny memory lapses, buys Robot for Frank. Frank is not best pleased, nor is his daughter who is ideologically opposed to robot-care, but Robot moves in. Programmed with Frank’s best interests at heart, Robot makes nutritious food and instigates a healthy daily routine of waking early and exercising - much to Frank’s disgust. It is only when Frank draws Robot into helping with a planned theft that he starts to appreciate what Robot can do, and a kind of friendship develops between man and machine.

What can we learn about the problem of loneliness from the portrayal of the solution offered to Frank by Robot? Robot is not offering company at a distance but through being present in daily life. The help that Robot gives Frank is both menial and meaningful: cleaning the dishes and inspiring purposeful activity. Before Robot arrived, Frank ate badly, lived in squalor and fell asleep on the couch. Robot cooks, cleans and wakes Frank from his bed in the mornings. Although they have different ideas about what meaningful activity might entail (Robot creates a garden, Frank plans robberies), the importance of doing things with and for someone is underlined by the comparison of Frank’s aimless days spent pre-Robot and the purpose with which his life becomes filled. Life is portrayed as meaningless without someone to share it with, and caring for oneself unimportant when alone. This is where the film connects with philosophical questions of self and identity – and how we are known and know ourselves in relation to others. Loneliness, as portrayed in Robot and Frank, is not simply a question of not having many friends but affects our very sense of self.

The portrayal of Robot, as a solution, also shows how technology, and the future of technology, is envisaged. Made in 2012, the film is set in the ‘near future’. The screen on which Frank received video calls from his daughter doesn’t look too different from KOMP, but the sophistication of Robot (from its ability to adapt to complex environments to having a sense of humour) far exceeds anything currently in use. Most of all, Robot is an autonomous entity; that is a being (if not a person) with self-determination. Robot makes decisions and judgements in accordance with its own moral code – albeit one dedicated to helping Frank. Frank relates to Robot as to another entity; they disagree, negotiate, and develop a shared history. Frank is no longer lonely because he is sharing his life with someone other than himself.

And this is where the film touches on the question of selfhood and memory. The cops want to seize Robot’s memory as evidence after a slapstick investigation into the robbery that Frank is accused of perpetrating. Frank tries to stop them as this would, in effect, ‘kill’ Robot. Robot would not have the same selfhood and would not be the same ‘person’ without those memories. The implications for Frank, who is also losing his memory, are profound. Relationships are forgotten, and his personhood is diminished by his failing mind.

Even if the style of Robot and Frank is not to your taste, it demonstrates the power of storytelling and film in raising important ethical questions of how we live and how we use technology.

Read more about Virtual Presence on this blog and find the protocol paper here.

Gemma Hughes is a Research Fellow at Reuben College and a researcher in the Interdisciplinary Research in Health Sciences Group at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences.