Dietmar Fischer

Very team building, if the team is being slowly crushed by industrial capitalism.

At the centre of the story is Maria, a kind and inspiring woman who gives hope to the workers.

But then a scientist creates a machine version of her, a robot double, designed to manipulate people.

The fake Maria does not simply replace a human being.

She becomes a tool of influence.

A machine wearing a human face, used by powerful people to control emotions, create chaos and bend society in a certain direction.

Now, if that does not sound relevant to AI, I don't know what does.

Because the question Metropolis asks is not simply, can we build a human-like machine?

That is the shiny question, the one that gets all the posters and dramatic lighting.

The deeper question is, what happens when technology is used to separate people from their own judgment?

That is where the film becomes frighteningly modern.

Today, we also live with machines that can imitate human language, generate faces, create voices, write messages, produce videos, and influence what people see online.

We are surrounded by systems that can look helpful, sound personal, and feel almost human.

And, just like in Metropolis, the danger is not always the machine itself.

The danger is who controls it, why they control it, and what they want us to believe.

The robot in Metropolis is not evil because it is made of metal.

It is dangerous because it is used as a mask.

It takes the trust people have in a real person and weaponizes it.

That is the uncomfortable bridge to modern AI.

Deepfakes, synthetic influencers, automated persuasion, fake voices, fake authority, fake intimacy.