Movies
Ridley Scott already used AI in ‘Alien’: it was called Mother and controlled Nostromo
The world of the ‘Alien’ franchise started by Ridley Scott has many horrors creeping around in space, but one of the most devious and constant is actually man-made.
Fede Alvarez’ ‘Alien Romulus’ recently brought viewers back to that horrifying, tense, and disgusting universe started decades ago by Ridley Scott through Alien. One were a single entity of mysterious origin can cause an entire crew to disappear, where corporations hide human-like androids amongst their workers, and where, of course, other tools made by them to carry out their nefarious money-grubbing plans.
Because of course, while the Xenomorphs horrify through body horror, twisting and consuming people through their parasitic lifecycle only to continue reproducing, the Weyland-Yutani corporation isn’t that much better. From the very first movie, they were established as a completely heartless business hell-bent on producing money by any way necessary. We’ve seen this expanded in the sequels and prequels, including a very deep look into its founder through ‘Prometheus’ and ‘Alien: Covenant’, but the people behind it can’t be present all the time. So who makes sure their plans are performed?
The answer is something that already terrifies many, and that has been the villain of other kinds of stories, but that in this franchise is a lingering evil in the background, often forgotten but recently brought back into the spotlight thanks to the latest film in the franchise.
In space, no one can hear you scream at the AI
Artificial Intelligence is scary enough without the modern dread of it stealing artist’s works to produce soulless iterative “creations”, or of it being developed to make people irrelevant at their jobs. In the ‘Alien’ universe, it’s not quite an oppressive and ever-present threat, but it’s been established as an important part of interstellar travel.
AI was a key part of the plot of ‘Alien’, where it was presented as MU/TH/UR 6000, an AI supercomputer referred to by its crew as “Mother” who was tasked with running the many systems aboard the spaceship Nostromo. Mother was capable of running the most vital mechanisms of the ship, as well as acting as the auto-pilot of the vessel while the crew were in stasis.
As part of the hierarchy of the ship, Mother could act as a link between the vessel and the Wyland-Yutani corporation, responding only to the highest-ranking officer on board the ship. She could also communicate relevant information through the intercom system, but only responded to the crewmember who was officially in charge of the trip.
However, as Mother was an AI she was also used by its creators to carry on covert operations without the crew finding out. In ‘Alien’, it worked alongside the ship’s science officer, Ash, to collect and bring on board the Xenomorph samples. Later its mission was to keep the creature alive, even if it meant the entirety of the crew.
While the AI never explicitly tried to harm the crew, it cared only for its mission and was an obstacle to the survival of Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver). But other than that Mother only returned as in the background as part of the various ships and space stations. But now, it’s back in an upgraded form.
Mother returns in ‘Alien Romulus’
MU/TH/UR is shown once again in a fleeting appearance through a monitor in Alien Romulus, where it’s revealed that it’s been upgraded to MU/TH/UR 9000. The movie reveals that it’s been 20 years since the Nostromo incident, which means that the upgrade makes sense, but also gives us a reason as to why another certain artificial being makes its return: Rook, another android that carries the same face as the Nostromo’s Ash (with the likeness of the late Ian Holm), also seems to carry the same information as that one android did, even when it went down with the ship at the end of the original movie.
As such it is implied that Mother was able to share its knowledge with the androids, and that they’re somehow all connected. Of course, the real threat this time around isn’t the AI looking to sacrifice its crew, but instead something… much more sinister and messed-up.
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