FILM · 2001 · USA
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
26 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (26)
- #001
There is no scene in which David blinks, all the way to the ending where he is perceived as a real child.
- #002
Including the industrial metal band Ministry in the film was Stanley Kubrick's idea. He was a big fan of the band and called its frontman, Al Jourgensen, to ask whether he wanted to appear in the film; Al assumed it was just a joke and hung up on him.
- #003
The list of words Monica Swinton (Frances O'Connor) says to give David (Haley Joel Osment) the ability to love was the original list written by Stanley Kubrick.
- #004
The film also pioneered the virtual studio, a technique that allowed director Steven Spielberg to walk through a virtual version of Rouge City with his camera and choose shots. This technique was used in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
- #005
To further enhance his non-human appearance, all of Haley Joel Osment's exposed skin (face, arms, hands, etc.) was shaved every day before shooting, giving him a more plastic look.
- #006
For the last seven minutes of the film, composer John Williams wrote a piano concerto that ran longer than the film itself. Director Steven Spielberg stopped the projector and told Williams to let the music continue. Together with editor Michael Kahn, Spielberg re-edited the film's final seven minutes to match Williams's piano concerto. Spielberg had done something similar nineteen years earlier on E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), where he and Carol Littleton edited the last fifteen minutes to Williams's music.
- #007
The film's New York City scenes, set years after 2001, show the World Trade Center. Less than three months after the film's release, the towers were destroyed in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Because the film opened in the United Kingdom in late September 2001, some cinemas added trigger warnings at the box office noting that the film contains images of the World Trade Center. Despite the risky controversy and criticism, Steven Spielberg kept the twin towers out of the DVD release.
- #008
To preserve the film's PG-13 rating, a penis-shaped structure was digitally removed from the "Rouge City" set.
- #009
Real-life amputees played some of the robots with missing limbs.
- #010
Although it is only implied in the film, John Williams confirmed that David really does die in the film's final scene.
- #011
For this film's future, flooded world, Steven Spielberg used the water-filled set from The Perfect Storm (2000).
- #012
The film was originally going to be titled "A. I.", but after a survey it turned out that many people thought the film was called A1. To prevent people from thinking it was about steak sauce, the title was changed to A. I. Artificial Intelligence.
- #013
The character name "Professor Hobby" is an obscure reference to Stanley Kubrick, who made his films in the United Kingdom under the name "Hobby Films" and never appeared on screen in any of his films.
- #014
Although Jack Angel recorded most of his voice work for Teddy in a voice booth, Spielberg wanted him on set every day so he could change lines on the spot when needed. Angel was very happy to work personally alongside Spielberg for three and a half months and considered it a great honor.
- #015
Robin Williams recorded his dialogue for this film with Stanley Kubrick directing the recording session; he did this long before Steven Spielberg was assigned to direct. In Bicentennial Man (1999), Williams plays an android who wants to be human.
- #016
The film is set in 2142 and 4142.
- #017
The Super Robots in the final act resemble the aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977); it appears Steven Spielberg was using scenes that had been cut from that film due to special-effects limitations at the time and had never been filmed until they appeared in this film. The resemblance was so strong that early reviews criticized the film for the sudden, out-of-place appearance of aliens at the end (a belief some still hold). The studio went so far as to issue statements at various foreign press screenings explaining that the resulting beings were not aliens but highly advanced robots.
- #018
An elaborate series of promotional websites included information about the characters' lives after their final appearances in the film. For example, one website revealed that Martin Swinton grew up traumatized by David's disappearance and spent his career as an architect building sensitive artificial intelligence homes.
- #019
David's head is frequently shown with a circular "halo" of light: the kitchen light, the dining table lights, the lights on his bed, a shot taken through a rearview mirror, the full moon, and so on.
- #020
When David (Haley Joel Osment) and Gigolo Joe (Jude Law) first arrive in Rouge City and pass through the giant mouth-shaped arch, the film uses a piece of music Stanley Kubrick had chosen back when he was still considering directing it. John Williams felt the music fit perfectly with the way Steven Spielberg shot the scene.
- #021
It is Haley Joel Osment's favorite film role.
- #022
It is Steven Spielberg's first writing credit since Poltergeist (1982).
- #023
One of the buildings in Manhattan is actually an Apple Macintosh (Harman-Kardon) subwoofer.
- #024
Stan Winston claimed this was the most ambitious film he had worked on in his life.
- #025
Steven Spielberg angrily responded to criticism that he had "softened" Stanley Kubrick's original vision with an emotional ending, stating that the 2,000-year fast-forward in which humanity has died out and David is discovered by advanced mechanisms was always part of the story he discussed with Kubrick, and that the ending itself is dark and ironic.
- #026
It was shot in sixty-seven days.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- IMDb IMDb kaydı
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work