The germ for what eventually became 2015's Ex Machina was planted in writer/director Alex Garland's mind when he was 11, after he had finished coding and experimenting on a computer his parents had bought him. After conducting several experiments, Garland almost thought the computer had a mind of its own, and thus began his fascination with artificial intelligence. Garland was reminded of this idea many years later when he was having a conversation with his neuroscientist friend, who claimed that machines will never become sentient. At the time, Garland didn't know enough about the subject to form an opinion, but he was utterly fascinated by the subject. Shortly thereafter, Garland set to work researching for the screenplay that would eventually become Ex Machina.
While in pre-production on the film Dredd, Garland stumbled upon a book by a professor named Murray Shanahan about A.I. and consciousness. While reading the book, Garland came up with the basic idea for the film. Drawing on Shanahan's book, as well as books by Ray Kurzweil and the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Garland began to write the film which eventually became Ex Machina. Garland finished his script, but didn't want to compromise his vision to appease a studio, and so shot the film on a very limited budget.
Filming took place at Pinewood Studios as well as at a hotel in Norway, and when the film was released, many praised Garland's direction. In an interview with NPR, Garland spoke about his desire to present not only the anxieties humans share about artificial intelligence, but also his perspective on Big Tech: "I think the other thing I was interested in was the way tech companies present themselves. So Oscar Isaac's character Nathan talks in this very kind of familiar, pal-y way. He uses the word 'dude' and 'bro' a lot. And I felt that this was sometimes how tech companies present themselves to us. They're kind of like our friends. They say, 'Hey pal, hey dude,' like we're kind of mates, you know, 'I'm not really a big tech company, I'm actually your friend and we're hanging out sort of at a bar or at the beach and we're sort of part of each other's lifestyle, but at the same time I'm going to take a lot of money off you and I'm going to take all of your data and rifle through your address book' and that kind of thing."
