AppleTV+’s ‘Sunny’ Explores Love and Implications of AI Companionship

The humanity of AI takes center stage in “Sunny”: The upcoming Apple TV+ series “Sunny,” premiering Wednesday, delves into questions about the humanity and emotional capabilities of artificial intelligence through the story of a grieving woman and her robot companion.

Rashida Jones and Hidetoshi Nishijima lead the cast:

• Rashida Jones stars as Suzie Sakamoto, an American living in Japan who reluctantly accepts a robot named Sunny designed by her late husband to anticipate her emotional needs after his death.
• Hidetoshi Nishijima plays Masa, Suzie’s engineer husband who created Sunny before his untimely passing in a plane crash.
• Jones expressed concerns about the implications of AI for creative professionals and the concept of intellectual property, while Nishijima likened the desire to find humanity in our creations to how people anthropomorphize toys.

Bringing Sunny to life with innovative technology:

• To avoid using a simple stand-in for Sunny, the production collaborated with Weta Workshop to create an animatronic puppet of the robot.
• Actor Joanna Sotomura, who played Sunny, wore a high-tech headpiece that allowed her to see her scene partners via a camera in the animatronic, while her facial expressions were captured and projected onto Sunny’s face in real-time.
• Showrunner Katie Robbins believed this approach brought authenticity to the interactions between the human characters and Sunny.

Navigating language barriers and the unpredictability of AI:

• The series switches between English and Japanese, with the characters using an in-ear translation device to understand each other, reflecting the show’s themes of technology as both a connective force and a source of isolation.
• Despite the potential benefits of AI, the show raises questions about whether artificial intelligence could develop its own consciousness independent of its programming and become unpredictable, much like humans.

Broader implications and the inevitability of AI:
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly ubiquitous, “Sunny” highlights the complex relationship between humans and AI, raising thought-provoking questions about the emotional capabilities of machines and the potential consequences of relying on them for companionship and support. While the show’s stars express reservations about fully embracing AI in their personal lives, they acknowledge that the integration of this technology into society may be inevitable, forcing individuals to adapt and reexamine their relationships with AI-powered entities. As the lines between human and machine continue to blur, “Sunny” serves as a timely exploration of the ethical and philosophical implications of our growing dependence on artificial intelligence.