Author
Samantha Susewind
Undergraduate English BA Student, Writing and Technology Minor
AI and Ready Player One: What can AI teach humans through the AI character Anorak?
Class: ENGL 4397: Exploring AI: Storytelling, Ethics, and Multimodal Science Fiction with Dr. Hüsing (Spring 2025)
Abstract
This project was created for ENGL 4397/Senior Seminar “Exploring AI: Storytelling, Ethics, and Multimodal Science Fiction”. For this project students were required to create an infographic on an issue related to AI in science fiction storytelling. The guiding research question for this infographic asked if an AI character can teach humans how to be “more human”. My goal for this project was to analyze my selected work of science fiction (Ready Player One) and examine the role that AI has in the film. By analyzing the character Anorak (the digital embodiment of James Halliday), this infographic focuses on how AI can shape how humans understand their own selves. As is argued in the infographic, the AI character teaches valuable lessons to the human characters and ends up influencing how humans see their world. The purpose of this infographic is to encourage the audience to consider the positive ways that AI can teach and influence our real lives.
The Multimodal Exchange 