The Gene of AI

Episodes 1-3

Artificial intelligence is a thorny issue nowadays, although that's only a result of successful branding. Our current large language models are artificial, yes, but they possess nothing resembling intelligence. Given a sufficient corpus of base material, they can somewhat reliably reproduce a facsimile that kinda looks or kinda sounds correct, and that's about it. Our present problems and dilemmas with the application of these LLMs have less to do with the robustness (real or perceived) of this technology and more to do with follies as ancient as human civilization: hubris, greed, ignorance, and so on. ChatGPT hasn't revolutionized society. It has only opened new vectors through which these familiar frictions can manifest.

Unlike current debates about a technology that's pretty okay at drawing generously breasted anime babes with bonus phalanges, The Gene of AI concerns itself with a near future populated by actual artificial intelligence. In both cases, however, the conflicts that arise are as human as can be. Questions of identity, capability, and authenticity pepper these first three episodes, and they should be familiar questions to anyone who has digested other works dealing with transhumanism. The series' adherence to the road paved by its predecessors will be either its greatest drawback or its greatest asset, depending on what you want out of it. Those seeking a brash and innovative story will be disappointed. I, on the other hand, enjoy its quiet lack of pretensions. The Gene of AI is unvarnished speculative sci-fi that isn't afraid of an unanswered question. It's not original, and it's not flashy, but therein lies the appeal of a simple weekly vignette about the inherent complexity of asking “What is a person?”

There is a decent hook to the narrative, but it has yet to be fully utilized. Our hero Dr. Sudo moonlights as an underground Humanoid specialist with the alias Moggadeet, who investigates the cyber-medical black market in the hopes of finding the criminals who scammed his mom. In other words, he's like Black Jack for androids, which is cool, but so far has only factored into the premiere. Rather, the show has focused more on his day job as an above-board doctor, and beyond that, it's devoted much more time to the patient(s) of the week than to Sudo's motivations. While I don't think this is an incorrect approach, it does make it more difficult for the series to stand out among its peers. It doesn't have the musical action of Vivy, for instance, nor the arthouse appeal of Kaiba. But that's not a dealbreaker if you, like me, enjoy boring stories about sad robots.

What I most like about Gene so far is the breadth of its scope. Each episode tackles a different main philosophical/ethical issue while slathering on a healthy serving of side quandaries. For example, one small moment that stood out to me was Sudo trying to drive manually before his car informed him that his insurance only covered self-driving transport. It tells us something about Sudo, who's a bit old-fashioned, and it also speaks to the way technology will always interface with economic realities. Tech only flourishes if there's an economic incentive for it to do so (of course, whether those incentives are real or manufactured is another ballgame entirely). I also love the brief allusion to a guy whose brain keeps getting copied to serve criminal organizations. There's an entire horror story in that one sentence. Meanwhile, the gist of the premiere deals with the continuity of identity, an old concern of the old thinkers, complicated by the introduction of memory backups for Humanoids. While this is Philosophy 101 material presented with little subtlety, I appreciate Gene leaving the audience to draw their own conclusions. There's a bittersweetness to the mother's resurrection that the narrative leaves unresolved. It's up to you to sit with it.

The second episode surprised me with its willingness to tread into more controversial territory, asking what competitive sports would look like with Humanoids in the mix. Humanoids, importantly, are not superhuman in capability. The conversation at the start of the episode implies this has been done deliberately to preserve their humanity. People, by and large, don't want to be all-powerful. They just want to be normal and fit in. Jun's conflicts as a Humanoid track runner, therefore, are highly nuanced. He's better at some things but has to work harder at others, i.e. his frustrations resemble that of every other runner in existence. That's the point, and it especially calls to mind the current prevalence of transphobia in athletics, where blunt biological misconceptions/generalizations have been used to bludgeon athletes of every gender and identity. I think this is an intentional allegory by Gene too because the same episode introduces Kaoru, a trans-fem nonbinary Humanoid. I would have preferred they not arrive with so much groping humor, but it's nice to see their existence treated as a matter of fact, not as an aberration.

I don't have enough space to touch on every idea spoken and explored by Gene, and to me, that's a point in its favor. After all, if you're going to be drawing from a familiar well, then it behooves you to pull up as much water as you can carry. Wear those influences on both sleeves. Take a page out of Spielberg's book and show us a conversation between a robot gigolo named Joe and a kid's teddy bear. This week's episode most closely speaks to our current relationship with “artificial intelligence,” e.g. the fidelity of the technology is far less important than our own bias towards anthropomorphism. Humans can grow attached to completely inanimate objects, so is it any wonder we're susceptible to machines explicitly designed to mimic ourselves? I'm not as interested in the question of what separates Joe and Poppo from Humanoids; that's a bit too abstract for my tastes. I'm a lot more invested in the undeniable reality of people like Shizuka and Kenji who imprint on these robots. I could rattle off an entire essay on that right now if I wanted to. That's why I like watching this anime, and that's why I'm more than happy to review it this season.

The big horsefly in the ointment is that Gene looks quite bad. Outside of the goat pupils on the Humanoids (which are cool!), the character designs are bland. The environments look flat. The color theory is very beige-forward. And the animation is limited to the point of detracting from the drama. Like so many other anime, it's an obvious victim of too many cartoons being drawn by too few people with too little experience and nowhere near enough compensation. And when it's already operating at a deficit of originality, the lackluster presentation makes it that much harder to recommend Gene to a general audience. But if you, like me, are starved for a speculative sci-fi anime with a decent head on its shoulders and a genuine respect for nuance, then you've come to the right place. You just have to provide your own seasoning.

Rating:

Gene of AI is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Steve is on Twitter until the day it completely succumbs to the t-shirt bots. You can also catch him chatting about trash and treasure alike on This Week in Anime.