CALEB sits in front of the fireplace in the main room.

NATHAN joins him, bringing a beer for each of them.

CALEB
Tell me.

NATHAN
Sure.

CALEB
Why did you give her sexuality? An AI doesn’t need a gender. She could have been a grey box.

NATHAN sits opposite.

NATHAN
Actually, I’m not sure that’s true. Can you think of an example of consciousness, at any level, human or animal, that exists without a sexual dimension?

CALEB
They have sexuality as an evolutionary reproductive need.

NATHAN
Maybe. Maybe not. What imperative does a grey box have to interact with another grey box? Does consciousness exist without interaction?

NATHAN takes a drink of his beer.
Anyway, sexuality is fun. If you’re going to exist, why not
enjoy it? You want to remove the chance for falling in love and fucking?

He leans forward, conspiratorially.

And, yes. In answer to your real question: you bet she can fuck. I made her anatomically complete.

CALEB
What?

NATHAN
She has a cavity between her legs, with a concentration of sensors. Engage with them in the right way, and she’ll get a pleasure response.

CALEB
Pleasure response.

NATHAN
She’ll come. So if you want to screw her, mechanically speaking, you can. And she’d enjoy it.

CALEB
That wasn’t my real question.

NATHAN
No?

CALEB
No. My real question was - My real question was: did you give
her sexuality as a diversion tactic?
NATHAN smiles slightly.
I don’t follow.

CALEB
Like a stage magician with a hot assistant.

NATHAN
Ah. So: a hot robot, who clouds your ability to judge her AI.

CALEB
Exactly. So. Did you program her to flirt with me?

NATHAN
Because if I had, would that be
cheating.

CALEB
Wouldn’t it?

KYOKO
prepares dinner in the kitchen area.

NATHAN
What’s your type, Caleb?

CALEB
Of girl?
NATHAN
No, of salad dressing. Yes, of girl. In fact, don’t even answer.
Let’s say it’s black chicks.

For the sake of argument, that’s your thing. So - why is it your
thing? Because you did a detailed study of all racial types, and
cross-referenced the study with a points-based system? No. You just are attracted to black chicks. A consequence of accumulated external stimulus, that you probably didn’t even register as they registered with you.

CALEB
So did you program her to like me
or not?

NATHAN
I programmed her to be heterosexual. Just like you were programmed to be heterosexual.

CALEB
Nobody programmed me to be
straight.

NATHAN
But you are attracted to her.

CALEB
This is childish.

NATHAN
No, this is adult. And by the way, you decided to be straight?
Please. Of course you were programmed. By nature or nurture, or both.

NATHAN stands.

To be honest, Caleb, you’re kind of annoying me now. This is your insecurity talking, not your intellect.
CALEB opens his mouth to reply, but NATHAN shuts him down.

NATHAN
Come with me.

INT. HOUSE/POLLOCK ROOM - DAY

NATHAN and CALEB stand in front of the Pollock drip painting.

NATHAN
You know this guy, right?

CALEB
Jackson Pollock.Jackson Pollock. The drip painter. He let his mind go blank, and his hand go where it wanted. Not
deliberate, not random. Someplace in between. They called it
automatic art.Let’s make this like Star Trek, okay? Engage intellect.

CALEB
... What?

NATHAN
I’m Kirk. Your head is the warp drive. ‘Engage intellect’. What
if Pollock had reversed the challenge? Instead of trying to
make art without thinking, he said: I can’t paint anything unless I know exactly why I’m doing it. What would have happened?

CALEB
He never would have made a single mark.
NATHAN clicks his fingers.
NATHAN
See? There’smy guy. There’s my buddy, who actually thinks before he opens his mouth. He’d never have made a single mark. The challenge is not to act automatically. It’s to find an
action that is not automatic. From talking, to breathing, to painting.
NATHAN glances back at CALEB. To fucking. Even falling in love.

For the record, Ava is not acting as if she likes you. And her flirting isn’t an algorithm to fake you out. You’re the first
man she’s ever seen who isn’t me. And I’m like her dad, right? So can you blame her for getting a crush on you?

NATHAN glazes a moment. Then comes back.

No. You can’