Terminator Meets Apple TV’s Foundation in Netflix’s 13-Episode Sci-Fi Series About AI
Vivy’s mission and warning
Produced by Japan’s Wit Studio, Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song is distributed by Netflix in the United States and elsewhere. The anime centers on Vivy, described as the world’s first autonomous AI, voiced in Japanese by Atsumi Tanezaki and in the English dub by Cristina Vee.
Humanity gives Vivy a lifelong purpose: making people happy with her songs. Her pursuit of stardom is interrupted when another autonomous AI says it has come from the future, where AI and humanity are at war.
Echoes of classic science fiction
The conflict and the time-travel warning recall The Terminator, while Vivy’s assigned purpose brings to mind ideas associated with Isaac Asimov’s robot stories. His three listed Laws of Robotics govern how robots may act toward people and protect themselves.
Asimov later connected The Robot stories with his Galactic Empire novels and Foundation series. The connection was revealed in Foundation’s Edge, the fifth Foundation book; Apple TV’s adaptation made it more overt from the outset.
Music gives AI a new angle
Vivy sets itself apart with a pop-music focus. That approach connects its fictional questions to current disputes over generative AI, which millions of people use to make art, including music, and to arguments about whether such work has merit or substance.
The series is not presented as an accurate picture of today’s AI industry. Instead, it offers another way to consider AI-generated art and the potential consequences of AI for humanity.
Why newer stories matter
Terminator and Foundation have shaped popular ideas about AI for decades, but the article argues that those stories lack nuance for today’s circumstances. Newer science fiction can introduce different ways to discuss real-world developments rather than rely on older models.
Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song is streaming on Netflix in the United States. Its 13 episodes use a fictional story to explore questions about AI and art.
Key points
- Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song debuted in 2021 and has 13 episodes.
- Vivy’s mission is to make people happy with her songs.
- A visitor from the future warns Vivy of war between AI and humanity.
- The anime uses music to explore questions about AI-generated art.