Steven Spielberg’s Most Underrated Sci-Fi Movie is Streaming Free (And It Hits Differently in 2026)

by

It’s hard to ignore artificial intelligence these days. AI has quickly become a part of our daily routines, moving beyond simple virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa to help with tasks like email and online searches through tools like ChatGPT and Gemini. For some, AI even provides companionship. What was once a futuristic idea is now a reality, raising important and long-standing questions about the relationship between humans and technology, and what that means for the future.

When Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence came out in 2001, the idea of a truly human-like robot still seemed like science fiction. The film, starring Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, and others, tells the story of a robotic child programmed to love. While it was originally a project developed by Stanley Kubrick, and its deeper meaning wasn’t fully appreciated at the time, the movie feels much more relevant today, given how common artificial intelligence has become. You can now watch it for free on Tubi.

A.I. Asks Difficult Questions About Our Relationship With Machines

Set in the 22nd century, the film A.I. takes place in a world drastically altered by climate change, leading to a decline in the human population. Humanoid robots, or mechas, are now commonplace, serving many purposes. The story centers on David, a remarkably lifelike prototype robot child created to experience love. He’s given to a family with a sick son, and forms a bond with the mother, Monica. When the son recovers, David’s situation worsens, and he’s slated for destruction. Monica, unable to bear it, abandons him instead. David then embarks on a quest with another robot, Gigolo Joe, to find the Blue Fairy from the Pinocchio story, hoping she can transform him into a real boy.

Spielberg’s A.I. is a surprisingly somber film. From the start, we know the protagonist, David, can never truly become human, but his artificial intelligence is programmed to feel and desperately seek love – particularly a mother’s love. This raises unsettling questions about what it means to be “real” when something artificial can so convincingly imitate human emotion and experience, and how we should treat such creations. When the film was first released, it was easy to dismiss these themes as simply part of a strange sci-fi story with an ambiguous ending. However, 25 years later, with increasingly realistic A.I. companions becoming a reality, watching A.I. is a much more thought-provoking experience. The film has moved from science fiction to a reflection of our present, making it a remarkably prescient and often overlooked work.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

https://comicbook.com/movies/list/7-worst-horror-movie-sequels-ever-ranked/embed/#

Read More

2026-02-05 21:10