By the end of A.I. Artificial Intelligence, humans and robots have switched places. The film begins with humans in the dominant position, creating artificial life to fill our emotional voids, but ends with humans being subservient to robots, who are now doing the same thing by resurrecting Monica so they might learn from David’s emotional response to her.

Spielberg anticipates this at the very beginning of the film. In the opening sequence, we see Professor Hobby giving a lecture about artificial intelligence and testing his theories out on his robot secretary. The scene ends with the secretary doing her make-up. We then cut to a shot of Monica doing hers. The glacial way Spielberg presents this cut suggests a weight and meaning that won’t become fully evident until the concluding scenes.