Artificial Intelligence is amazing; it can automate your household chores, suggest Google searches, drive our cars, make logical decisions like a human being, and trap you inside a building and try to kill you.

Wait, what?!

While that last one hasn’t happened in real life, it IS the plot of
Ctrl Alt Delete
, the feature length technological thriller from James B. Cox (MFA/Film Production ’11).

In the film, hacktivists break into data center of big company with goal of getting evidence of their ill deeds and reveal it to the world. During the process, they uncover an artificial intelligence, in the form of an experimental box that is meant to control the data center. However, when it feels threatened, it takes over, and locks everyone inside the building, and fights to protect itself. It slowly begins to reach its tendrils across the internet as well, and has some far-reaching consequences that the leads never considered.

two women and one man in costume standing together


“It’s basically a HAL 9000 story, but without HAL,” joked Cox.

Cox was always fascinated by artificial intelligence technology, and loved films such as
The Terminator
and
Blade Runner
.

“However, they all approached it from the assumption that artificial intelligence is approximation of human intelligence. But, in reality, it is far from it,” explained Cox. He went on to clarify that it is more of a hive mind, an algorithm that it is following.

“It’s not thinking about what it is doing, but processing information. It can process and take action before realize it’s done something wrong,” he said.

The initial idea for the story came about in 2010, while Cox was still in the graduate producing program here at Dodge College. He didn’t quite crack the story then, but he kept it in his mind, thinking about how to make it work. He wanted to do a battle of the wits with an artificial intelligence program, and from there, the story began to grow.

He teamed up with Baruch Kaufman (BFA/Film Production ’05), whom met during the undergraduate program at Dodge College. The two formed
Nighthawks Entertainment
because they wanted to work together. They initially did some TV projects, and worked on other things that are currently in development, but their latest endeavor is
Ctrl Alt Delete
.

people behind a camera in a parking garage


Even before the cameras began rolling, Cox did a massive amount of research on artificial intelligence and human behavior overall. He looked into the work of James Barrett and Ray Kurtzwell to help get a handle on AI and where it may be going in the future. He even took a free course online from MIT’s computer science department, as it dealt with artificial intelligence.

“Not only did I use that for research, but it gave me a greater appreciation of the reality of the science, and of what it can and can’t do,” Cox said.

The film was shot in 14 days, and managed a low budget even with such a high concept. They wanted to do a sci-fi thriller, but with today’s technology and modern world, not in some distant future with robots walking around.

two men smiling


Kaufman and Cox at Long Beach Comic Con



“Our antagonist is literally a glowing box…one that locks doors, makes cars move, and weaponized things you wouldn’t expect, so it’s quite scary,” said Cox.

They used set pieces from other shows that weren’t being used to help build their data center, and it wound up looking fantastic, especially at night.

“It was like a weird dungeon with technology lights, and it just looked cool. It felt very cyberpunk, like a land of misfit toys data center, but it worked for us!” said Cox.

The film had its world premiere at the Boston Sci Fi Festival, and has continued to make the rounds around the country. They won Best of Fest and Best Feature Film at the Long Beach Comic Expo Geek Fest, their west coast premiere, and also won Best Sci-Fi Feature at Famous Monsters of Filmland’s Silver Scream Fest. They also just signed on Taylor & Dodge to represent the film for domestic and international distribution. Needless to say, people are enjoying the film!

movie poster, green face text that says ctrl alt delete


“In making our first feature film, we leaned heavily on our roots at Dodge College and were fortunate to be able to tap into a fantastic network of talented filmmakers. Many of whom played an integral part in making
Ctrl Alt Delete
happen,” said Kaufman.

For those wanting to see
Ctrl Alt Delete
, it is playing this weekend at the Vail Film Festival and Palm Beach International Film Festival.

For more information on the film, visit its website at
ctrlaltdeletemovie.com