A new AI-focused project may be coming to movie screens — centered on a plot in which human creativity is fighting a losing battle against the robots.
“I AM AI,” a Hugo Award-nominated novelette written by Ai Jiang, has been optioned for a feature-length film project. The 2023 title, published by Shortwave Publishing and also nominated for Nebula and Locus awards, sees a cyborg named “Ai” who poses as an AI writing tool for clients in the fictional city of Emit in a bid to pay off debts, repair her waning battery and get rid of her human heart. But when an actual AI tool, called “I AM AI,” launches under the guise of being faster and cheaper, Ai risks literal burnout in a bid to prove the value of her human core against a machine.
Attached to the project are actor and producer Matthias Schweighöfer, who played Warner Heisenberg in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” and appeared in Zack Snyder’s “Army of the Dead,” and producer Sascha Rosemann, who helped develop the 2023 Sky show “Unwanted.”
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It’s unclear which studios may be circling the project, though it comes as AI-related projects have proliferated across content platforms in recent years. The final seasons of “The Comeback” and “Hacks” this year both dealt extensively with AI, while Joseph Gordon-Levitt is nearing a production wrap on his AI-focused thriller starring Rachel McAdams, Jeff Daniels, Joel Edgerton and more for Netflix.
“’I AM Al’ is inspired by my time working as a ghost writer, reflecting on burnout and toxic productivity, and the dangers of not having proper work-life balance,” Jiang said in a statement. “It’s also a story about connection and disconnection, and the power of art. I’m extremely excited to see how Matthias Schweighöfer and Sascha Rosemann will approach the novelette’s adaptation to screen and know it’s in great hands!”
Jiang is repped by Orly Greenburg at UTA. Jiang and Shortwave Publishing will also publish through Simon & Schuster’s “Memories Are Only Valuable if They Can Be Lost,” a collection of 40 sci-fi, horror and other speculative short stories (including “I AM AI“) next year.