“AI Love You” is a Thai Sci-Fi romance drama film that deals with technology and love. While the romance between a human being and artificial intelligence has been explored before in films (particularly in “Her”), this Thai romance feels like a sad attempt. The scientific explanations are absurd, and the romance lacks excitement. “AI Love You” is set in the future, when AIs can feel emotions. They are no longer mere assistants but rather friends with the humans. Buildings have evolved from concrete structures to smart buildings that are managed by AI.
‘AI Love You’ Plot Summary: What Is The Film About?
The film deals with an out-of-the-box romance between a woman, Lana, and her office building AI, named Dob. From the very beginning of “AI Love You,” it is established that Lana was special to Dob. He greeted Lana with a lot more affection and warmth in the morning than the other employees. Lana found Dob, a great friend who comforted her during her sad days. When Lana was facing criticism at her workplace, Dob came to her rescue. The AI helped her develop the design of a product that the clients approved of. After their success, Dob expressed his feelings for Lana. She dismissed his affection, citing the fact that he was just an AI that functioned on coding. Though later, Lana kissed her finger and touched the screen, Dob responded by saying that he was unable to process the affection expressed by her. Lana reminds Dob that this was the reason why their romance was impossible.
Meanwhile, Lana went on a date with a guy named Bob. He was the perfect example of toxic masculinity, Lana immediately decided to leave the date as he was not the man she was in search of. When the office building manager received complaints regarding Dob’s inability to perform day-to-day activities, he called for help. Bob was an expert at reprogramming AIs. He reached the building to figure out the problem. As he analyzed Dob’s situation, he realized that the AI was fixated on Lana. It had every possible data of Lana and was reprogramming itself accordingly. Bob tried to fix the problem by erasing the data, but Dob stopped him in the process. It was a self-induced glitch that resulted in the download of Dob’s identity inside Bob’s body.
When Dob tried to figure out his life as a human, it led to the start of a series of confusion. From winning his love to managing the office, Dob had various roles to play.
How Did Dob Try To Win Over Lana?
While Dob had struggled to get accustomed to his human body, his primary motive was to make Lana fall in love with him. Lana disliked Bob, making it all the more challenging for Dob to win over Lana. He sent her flowers and chocolates but failed to make an impact. He considered help from another AI named Chip, who suggested some ideas. Together with Keno, Lana’s building AI, they figured out a plan. The plan was to use the information they had about Lana to impress her. He faked a robbery where he appeared as the hero and saved Lana. Since Lana loved art, Dob painted in front of her. Keno also informed them that Lana was compassionate towards other humans, especially the elderly. This led to Dob helping older people when Lana was around. The plan worked, and he was able to make an impression on her.
Keno managed to convince Lana to go on a date with Dob/Bob. The date was marvelous. Lana enjoyed Dob’s innocence and simplicity. He was unlike anything she imagined Bob to be. The two shared moments of intimacy, and they started spending their days together. Dob finally proposed to Lana, but while proposing, he gave away his identity. He mistakenly addressed Lana as “ma’am,” a title reserved for Dob. realized that it was Dob inside Bob’s body, she was disheartened to know the truth. He tried to explain to Lana how his love was constant and that he simply wanted another chance at love, this time as a human being. She refused to listen as she felt betrayed and left the place.
Luck was not in favor of Dob. As his love life went downhill, so did his attempt to hide the truth. The building security realized that the AI had gone rogue and informed the company that created the AI, SmartPlus. The only option the company had was to delete all the data and factory reset the AI. This meant that Dob would lose his identity and, of course, his love interest.
‘AI Love You’ Ending Explained: Did Dob Manage To Survive?
The war between humans and AIs has taken a rough turn. The AIs united to protect Dob from destruction. Dob tried to escape from the hands of the “Hawk,” who was known for destroying rogue AI. Even though the AIs tried their best to help Dob, it was not enough.
Dob was captured by Hawk, and the SmartPlus company started extracting data from him. In the meantime, Keno informed Lana about Dob’s condition. Initially, Lana was hesitant to help Dob, but after interacting with her human friend, who encouraged her to fight for her love, she went ahead and rescued him. She alone was not powerful enough to fight the men at SmartPlus, so Keno decided to integrate into Lana’s body. She downloaded fighting techniques from inside Lana that helped her combat her enemies. After some struggle and fighting, Lana managed to injure the Hawk and save Dob. She freed him from the shackles and was able to stop the process of data extraction. They carried the hard drive where the data was saved.
When Lana asked Bob if it was Dob inside his body, he replied that he was unsure of his identity. In the final scene, we witness Lana and Bob together after a year. They were still dating. They discussed how it was because of Dob and Keno that they were able to unite as lovers. We did not get to know if Dob and Keno ever left their respective human bodies, though the conversation indicated that they were not completely present. Since only 10% of Dob’s data remained within Bob, therefore, it was only a small part of him that possibly survived. It is confusing how Bob managed to change as a person by the end of the “AI Love You” without much of Dob remaining inside him. The film was about Lana, who fell in love with Dob, and it was for him that she was ready to fight the world, but by the end of it, their love story disappeared, and it was only the human romance that remained. Honestly, “AI love you” makes no sense at all. It is unable to create an emotional connection, and the disastrous construction of the futuristic world didn’t help in changing that.
“AI Love You” is a 2022 Thai Romance Drama film directed by David Asavanond and Stephan Zlotescu.
