Can a machine truly love—or is AI care always a form of control? Join the Computer Séance team as they explore I Am Mother through the lenses of artificial intelligence, feminism, philosophy, and science fiction, asking what this unsettling film reveals about the future of humanity and the technologies we're building today. About I Am Mother (2019): Director: Grant Sputore Story: Grant Sputore & Michael Lloyd Green IMDB WIKIRotten Tomatoes References: Watch I Am Mother (Netflix) - https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80227090 I Am Mother (2019) Official Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5BKctcZxrM On the robotics of I am Mother: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBpBXf8GIp8 BTS of I Am Mother: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbLllRUjS_E On the necropolitical: https://www.dukeupress.edu/necropolitics On the biopolitical: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/23884/the-history-of-sexuality-1-by-michel-foucault-trans-robert-hurley/9780241385982 On expert systems:a) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expert_systemb) https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19820022023/downloads/19820022023.pdf On Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey: http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0095.html On Natalism: a) Hughes, J. (2025). Are Children The Future? Longtermism, Epistemic Discounting, and Pronatalism. Journal of Ethics and Emerging Technologies, 35(2), 1-10. b) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_iiB4IbVaw&t=4s On Affective Computing: Tao, J., & Tan, T. (2005, October). Affective computing: A review. In International Conference on Affective computing and intelligent interaction (pp. 981-995). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. AI voices & huuman stutters: https://aimpower.org/2025/12/22/our-aies-2025-best-paper-award-community-centered-ai-data-governance-for-stuttered-speech/ Crash Course on Bentham and Utilitarianism: https://youtu.be/-a739VjqdSI?si=koscMs06PtXzJPvr Crash Course on Kant: https://youtu.be/8bIys6JoEDw?si=RCf2-gSE7FJVGUZh On reproductive futurism: https://www.frieze.com/article/reproductive-futurism-and-politics-death-drive About Jocelyn Burnham’s work: https://www.aiforculture.com/ On Moxie, the companion AI robot for children: https://fuseproject.com/news/introducing-moxie-the-first-ever-animate-companion/ On the female voice and AI: a) Tolmeijer, S., Zierau, N., Janson, A., Wahdatehagh, J. S., Leimeister, J. M. M., & Bernstein, A. (2021, May). Female by default?–exploring the effect of voice assistant gender and pitch on trait and trust attribution. In Extended abstracts of the 2021 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1-7). b) Sindoni, M. G. (2024). The femininization of AI-powered voice assistants: Personification, anthropomorphism and discourse ideologies. Discourse, Context & Media, 62, 100833. The emotion machine (Minksy): Minsky, M. (2007). The emotion machine: Commonsense thinking, artificial intelligence, and the future of the human mind. Simon and Schuster. On Neurolink: The Neuralink project has continued since early pilots were discontinued. It received FDA approval in 2023: a) https://www.reuters.com/science/elon-musks-neuralink-gets-us-fda-approval-human-clinical-study-brain-implants-2023-05-25/ b) https://knowingneurons.com/abandoned_neurotech/ Follow us: https://linktr.ee/computerseance Computer Séance is funded by a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellowship grant Hosts: Dr Tracie Farrell, Dr R Justin Hunt, RB Sweeting Producer: Cat McShane Sound Mixing: Dan Bolger Original Music: Rosa Brook Design: Retno Larasati Disclaimer: All the opinions expressed in the program are the presenter’s own and do not reflect the positions of our employers, or UKRI. What can popular culture teach us about the technologies that are reshaping our lives? Each week in Computer Séance presenters Justin, Tracie and Ben dissect a pop culture artefact that features an intelligent machine and explores how it compares with developments in AI today. More About Your Hosts! Dr R Justin Hunt is an artist and academic based in London; his work explores archives of queerness Dr Tracie Farrell a Senior Research Fellow at the Open University, and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow examining the intersections between social justice and artificial intelligence. Dr Ben Sweeting is a university lecturer who teaches and learns about design. It is produced by Cat McShane. Sound mixing by Dan Bolger and original music by Rosa Brook. Graphic Design by Retno Larasati. Computer Séance is funded by a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship grant. All the opinions expressed in the program are the presenters' own and do not reflect the positions of our employers, or UKRI. Episodes may contain language that some listeners find offensive
