This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia, which closed in 2021.

IBM's Watson Wrote A Lexus Commercial About A Car That Comes Alive

Yeah, we humans are going to be just fine.

Robots may not have gained sentience yet, but it looks as if they’re thinking about it.

Lexus releases a 60-second commercial Monday that is being touted as the first written by artificial intelligence. It was scripted by IBM’s famous Watson and directed by Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald.

According to IBM, Watson took common characteristics of award-winning commercials from the last 15 years and was primed with data that showed when viewers most connected with an ad. It then formed a basic script and outline. Watson didn’t turn in a fully formed script, of course. His human overlords took the AI system’s vision and created a commercial ready for human consumption.

“The fact the AI gave a fellow machine sentience, placed it in a sort of combat situation and then had it escaping into the sunset was such an emotional response from what is essentially a digital platform,” said Macdonald in a Lexus press release.

His films include “The Last King of Scotland” and “Whitney,” a film on Whitney Houston’s life. He won an Oscar for his documentary “One Day in September.”

“The magic of storytelling will always come to life in the human creative process,” said Reece Medway, a media and entertainment specialist for IBM Watson in the U.K. and Ireland.

Interesting way of putting it, Reese. Your check from Skynet is probably in the mail.