Chris Pratt considered using a real robot as Mercy's AI judge

Gamesradar reports that Chris Pratt said he briefly considered using an actual robot to play the AI judge in Mercy, the new film in which he portrays a police officer who is interrogated by an artificial intelligence played on screen by Rebecca Ferguson.

Pratt told Entertainment Weekly that early discussions included the idea of creating an AI judge: "Should we have it be an AI, where the judge is actually AI, and we create an AI?" He said the suggestion was politely dismissed — "No, I don't think so," — and added, "Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea at all." He also recalled joking that his character might be able to pick the judge and that he "could pick Oprah" as a face on the screen.

Pratt said the robot idea "was actually never a possibility any more than anything is a possibility when you're zeroing in on what the outcome is going to be and what the choices are that you're going to make. It's a collaborative effort." Ultimately, the film presents the AI as a character portrayed by Ferguson on screen.

Key Topics

Culture, Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Mercy, Oprah Winfrey, Artificial Intelligence