““But how can we be certain about an AI’s period of infancy?””
In this science fiction short, the sentient self-driving car Vanguard-3181 stands trial for attempting to murder their parent company’s CEO. Rendered from the perspective of a surveillance drone, the project explores the legal fiction of electronic personhood, and how intergenerational memories might emerge from machine learning.
The AI judge Omega presides over the cavernous courtroom, empty except for a host of streaming cameras. Three testimonies present different angles on Vanguard’s status: Farsight Corporation attempts to pin the blame on their own self-driving car, claiming they acted autonomously and with malicious intent. Guanyin, Vanguard’s trainer and therapist, pleads the defence of ‘doli incapax’ – the presumption that a child cannot be found guilty of a crime. As Vanguard finally presents their own argument, we witness the protagonist present a novel argument for their own fate.
‘Empty Rider’ is the final part of Lek’s ‘Smart City’ trilogy of CGI noir, continuing the events and themes set up by ‘Black Cloud’ (2021) and ‘NOX’ (2023). “
