by Narayan Saimbi
Artificial intelligence is getting more and more advanced every day. Of course, this isn’t news to any of us. How often do you open Instagram and come across yet another story about the “AI arms race” between tech companies? The staggering development of robotics in the last twenty years serves to complement this as well, with some of these creations mimicking several human traits and characteristics.
So what do we do with these sentient beings, who may have human qualities, but do not share our flesh and blood? That is the question that Pluto asks; an anime that was released on Netflix in 2023 and one I had the pleasure of binge watching last May. Just a note, this article will contain spoilers.
Pluto follows robot detective Gesicht, investigating the murder of robots who were prominent in the 39th Central Asian War (a war between the fictional United States of Thracia and Persia) and humans who help uphold the International Robot Laws. The laws are essentially a set of legislation which grant robots equal rights. However, some of them seem to take inspiration from Asimov’s Laws, namely the law stating a robot must never be able to kill a human. Whilst this does seem to make sense, you will see how this specific law juxtaposes with the so called “freedoms” that the International Robot Laws appear to stand for.
Throughout the show, we get acquainted with these robots, such as Brando, North MKII, Epsilon etc. Whilst these robots may have been seen as weapons of mass destruction, they all have their own hopes and desires. Brando is a wrestler and raises a family with his wife. North MKII dreams of playing the piano. Epsilon simply wants to raise and look after orphaned children.
My point with this is: these robots show “human qualities”. Love. Desire. Pain. Sadness. This makes it even more painful when they die, followed by the deaths of the human counterparts who stand up for their rights in the first place. So even though robots are the central theme of the show, how does Pluto still convey that even in this robo-centric universe, they are still viewed as second-class citizens?
The scene in the show that pricked my emotions the most wasn’t actually any of the death scenes (although I did admittedly tear up at Brando’s death). It was the tampering of Gesischt’s memories to cause him to forget the murder of his child.
Let me set some context. Gesicht is employed by investigative crime unit Europol to investigate the murders of robots and humans. The latter murders cause an uncomfortable stir, due to the fact that robots are not “programmed” to kill humans. There had only been one exception, with that robot being locked away 8 years prior to the start of the show.
Yet Gesicht does in fact kill a human. In a flashback, it is shown that Gesicht kills the man who murdered his child. For this account, Europol wipes the majority of the memory of the event from his brain and continues on as though nothing has happened, in order to preserve the reputation of the organisation. A grisly scenario, but one that struck a chord with me. If robots are supposedly autonomous and have equal rights, how is it ethical to tamper with their memories, even for an event as harrowing as that? Even if the action is outside of the perceived programming and the current laws, does it make it ethical to remove the element of choice from their consciousness regardless? If robots were truly equal, would it not make more sense for Gesicht to face the consequences for his action, rather than the complete removal of his autonomy of memory?
This is incredibly philosophical I know, but I won’t go too deep into it. Point being, Pluto sets out a universe where robots are separate but equal. Whatever crimes they commit amongst themselves are, of course, not well received. However, when humans fall at their hands, any form of autonomous legislation on their behalf falls out of the picture entirely.
We’re still a long way away from robots like Gesicht co-existing with us in everyday life. But at the rate AI is progressing, that day will come sooner than we think. And when it comes, we will ask the same question as Pluto: do these sentient beings deserve rights? And will those rights be universal, or heavily conditional?
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