By David Dent
‘Cognaitive’ is an in-development revolutionary AI assistant that aims to be more adaptive and self-learning than its rivals, according to Ethan Conway (Noel Fisher), the tech company’s hyper head honcho. Conway has assembled a crack team of tecchies, headhunted from the big firms, along with Kaya Cole (Piper Curda), an IT genius and ‘modern day Robin Hood’ who he freed from a Russian jail on a hacking conviction.
The boundary pushing team also comprises nerdy Wes (Josh Zuckerman) with a big crush on Kaya, virtual world dwelling Jude (Lucius Bayback), blousy Liza (Natasha Behnam) and sensible KJ (Ritesh Rajan). Oh and company lawyer Daryl (Kyle S. More), who lies dead in his office.
Ethan drops the bomb that he wants to go live with ‘Cognaitive’ on the following day (he’s already used the tool to write his own thank you speech, in the style of someone who’s a genius) which means that the team must pull an all nighter to deliver on the deadline. However the AI’s security protocols, which would have limited the scope of the technology and were the responsibility of dead Daryl, have been deleted; and not by Daryl. CognAItive is ready to go live.
Tommy Savas’s debut feature takes a decidedly conservative view of the dangers of Artificial Intelligence, rather at odds with what’s happening in the world generally. There are some passing references to ‘The Terminator’ movies (“which one?” quips one of the team) but from an ‘it couldn’t happen here’ perspective, where of course everyone knows that things are going to go badly. Despite the mayhem on screen CognAItive remains largely gore free, but it’s fun while it lasts. A very retro sounding soundtrack reminds the audience that this is definitely not a ‘contemporary is good’ movie, and Kaya’s transition from tech slave to something less trusting further underline’s the film’s central moral, a staple of all good sci fi movies; don’t trust the tech.
CognAItive screened as part of Frightfest 2025.
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