AKA: AIの遺電子 ; AI no Idenshi

Genre: Sci-Fi

Length: Television series, 12 episodes, 24 minutes each

Distributor: Currently available streaming on crunchyroll.

Content Rating: TV-14 (Mature themes, some violence and fanservice.)

Related Series: N/A

Also Recommended: Armitage: Dual Matrix; Ghost in the Shell; Chobits; Atom: The Beginning

Notes: Based on manga by Kyuri Yamada, published by Akita Shoten

Rating:

The Gene of AI

Synopsis

Dr. Hikaru Sudo runs a clinic dedicated to fixing the (mainly "neural") problems of Humanoids, which have "organic" bodies but computer brains. His (Humanoid) mom is in prison (basically, for making a deal to save his life), but there's another version of her somewhere, and he's obsessed with finding that copy.

Review

This is really the better kind of Sci-Fi- NOT Apocalyptic (and completely WITHOUT super-powered, scantily-clad teenage girls), but rather dealing with the smaller issues that might be unique to artificial life- and some that it might have in common with humans.

There seem to be two categories of AI-powered entities involved. One is called "Industrial AI", more or less what we'd call robots; they range in appearance from a child's teddy bear; through a comically doll-like appearance (the one featured is called Perm- a lot of Osamu Tezuka's robots looked like this); and, finally, ones looking exactly like humans. (The examples we see of that last category wear collars with power button (symbols?) on them.) Today we talk of using robots for sexual purposes, but the only example we see here defies the usual gender expectations: a young woman leases a very attractive male-appearing robot as a housemate/"boyfriend." (VERY telling line from her: "He satisfies all my emotional and physical needs.") I gather that these "Industrial AI" androids aren't supposed to have all the capabilities (including emotional) of the Humanoids, though they can easily pass a Turing Test.

The Humanoids are a little different. They have "organic" bodies ("Bio-bodies"; maybe lab grown???), paired with electronic brains. (Dr. Sudo is always opening up their scalps to plug in cables or access their USB ports.) Technically, I wonder if these would be more properly called cyborgs, though cyborgs usually have human brains in more or less mechanical bodies, while here it's exactly reversed. We never see a Humanoid purchased or leased. Strangely, many of them seem to be allowed to adopt human children, and, on the other hand, some human couples are allowed to adopt Humanoid "children." (The only way to distinguish Humanoids from genuine humans WITHOUT opening up their heads is that their pupils are elliptical rather than round.)

The episodes typically feature a couple of Humanoids dealing with personal problems. Again, these can be common ones with humans, or ones unique to Humanoids. An important theme is that "fixes" are often possible with Humanoid programming that you can't do with human brains; but a major issue becomes whether those fixes are desirable. The series opens with a Humanoid "mother" whose brain acquired a virus when being copied. Copying Humanoid brains- excuse me, "neural nets"- is illegal, as is installing a copied backup; but Dr. Sudo (under an alias) occasionally dabbles in the illegal when necessary, and in this case the copy itself is clean. The problem is that, like any other "Restore" routine, it only contains her memories up to the point when the copy was made; any subsequent memories acquired would be lost. Her decision here was quite interesting.

At another point, we're faced with a Humanoid boy who is a brilliant piano player but has seemingly uncontrollable bouts of anger. His mother faces a difficult choice: Dr. Sudo CAN alter his programming to make him more social, but would he be completely the same child she knows? And would it affect his piano skills? (In our human world, we know that creativity and skill sometimes seem to come from some dark places in the soul, and when the brain is "treated"- in the old days, by brute-force techniques like lobotomy- very often the creativity disappears too.)

But one of the most interesting cases involves a friend of Sudo's nurse. Sudo's nurse is also a Humanoid; she's a twintail redhead, named Risa Higuchi, and she's by far the most sympathetic character in the story. You've got to commend the show for giving her an interesting backstory, as well as the fascinating issue with her friend- I'll get to the friend later. Sudo himself is often harsh and cold to Risa (as male anime leads often are), as well as having an irrational obsession with the missing "copy" of his mom- after all, the "copy" is NOT the person who actually raised him (even if she shares some of the memories), nor is the "copy" the same person who sacrificed her own freedom on his behalf (and is now in prison because of that.) The Doc's irrationality even extends to offering his clinic to a shady fellow "Doctor" of Humanoids who uses questionable methods to treat them. (And, if I'm interpreting this correctly, is essentially stealing money from his clients, a fact which Sudo knows, but little stands in the way of his obsession. Let's say I didn't always find Sudo admirable.)

But Risa loves him nevertheless, and he might finally acknowledge her feelings; I won't say if he finally chooses HER over his obsession. (There's more of the story to tell than is here, it seems.) But Risa's Humanoid friend, named Miyoshi Reon (Risa has nicknamed her "Breezy") has some business to transact with the Doctor- or THINKS she does. But it's another one of those situations where it might be better to re-think getting that "treatment."

Yes, there are random comments and/or concerns:

-Some of the Humanoids have alcohol and drug abuse problems. Since these are related to chemical issues in the synapses of human brains, I wouldn't think that the electronic brains of the Humanoids would be susceptible.

-It's utterly unsurprising that AI is worshipped as a deity by some in the show; it already IS among some in our own time. (The show's setting is supposed to be the near future.)

-There are quite a few loose ends left by some of the stories. In particular, I was never quite clear what the connection was between the ideology of a Humanoid here and the murder(s) they committed, supposedly in the service of that ideology.

-The idea of letting a robot learn the skills of a master craftsman (a metalsmith here) so that, besides the descriptions in books, the culture can retain a "muscle memory" of a (now-obsolete) craft, I thought ingenious.

-One Humanoid worked with Sudo as a male, but is now female. Sudo says, "Men, women- there's a desire to see beyond those concepts." It's encouraging that this show posits a future of actual progress here, rather than the reactionary backsliding we're seeing in the real world.

A mostly low-key show rich in ideas, even if some of them aren't pursued as deeply as one would like, or are left with ambiguous conclusions. I may not have always liked Sudo, but I grew to love Risa. I don't think this show got nearly the attention it deserves, but even I was put off by the title. (What, exactly, is a "gene" of AI?) — Allen Moody

Recommended Audience: Crunchy says TV-14. A stabbing occurs (but is not actually shown), and there are some fistfights. There is also the lady with the "rented" boyfriend (who we see in bed with her), and there's some breast-fondling (clothed breasts though.) So Violence and Mature Themes.