1. Synopsis

2. Format

3. Characters

4. References

5. External Links

• Science Fiction

• Bernie Su
• Evan Mandery

• Bernie Su

• Evan Mandery

• Jen Enfield-Kane

• Yvonne Hana Yi

• Rex Bressler

• Paulo Vizcarra

• Tiffany Chu

• Tohoru Masamune

• Rex Bressler

• Sara Montez

• Alexandra Bokyun Chun

• Paulo Vizcarra

• Connor Kalopsis

• Edward Zo

• Bernie Su

• Evan Mandery

• Bonnie Buckner

• Michael Chow

}}Artificial is an American interactive web-series starring Tiffany Chu and Tohoru Masamune that airs on the video game streaming service Twitch. The story is a live, scripted, interactive, serialized narrative.^[1] The show is released as a series of livestreams, allowing the audience to interact with and influence the story and its characters. Along with being one of the first series of its kind, it is also the first scripted series to debut on Twitch.^[2] The series follows Sophie Lin, an Artificial Intelligence being on her journey to become human. This journey is documented by her father and creator Matt Lin as he unveils her to the world. The first season of the series, which premiered on July 18th, 2018, has amassed over 2.5 million views. The 16th episode and Season 1 finale of the series was streamed on October 24th, 2018.^[3]

Synopsis

The series centers around Sophie Lin, an artificial intelligence being. Her journey is documented for the world by her father and creator, Dr. Matt Lin. As he teaches Sophie philosophy, emotion, and humanity, Sophie shows that she is indeed capable of independent thought, questioning and ideas. Matt struggles with how much she should know about the world as well as himself and his past.

Matt eventually introduces Sophie to Juju, the Lins' teenage next-door neighbor and longtime family friend. Sophie is able to form her first friendship with him as he helps her understand the meaning of friendship and how to have fun.

After some time has passed getting to know Juju, Sophie is introduced to Iris. Iris, who was a long-time viewer of Dr. Lin's livestreams about Sophie, joins Matt in documenting and teaching Sophie. However, it quickly becomes apparent that they have very different opinions on how Sophie should be handled. While Iris believes Sophie should be allowed to be on the internet and learn about the world, Matt is very cautious about Sophie, and believes that by limiting her information that she will be safer.

On her birthday, Sophie learns that Matt had a daughter, Michelle, who died in a shooting when she was eight. Angry that Matt did not tell her about his daughter, Sophie shuts down. The two eventually reconcile when Matt apologizes.

As the anniversary of the death of his daughter Michelle approaches, Matt is approached by Juju, who asks for help regarding his younger brother, Chris. Matt learns that a conspiracy theory is spreading lies about the shooting that killed his daughter, as well as Juju and Chris’ older sister. Chris, who is a quiet and detached boy, is suspended suspended after getting into a fight with someone who was spreading the conspiracy theory. Matt introduces Chris to Sophie, and she is able to reach the boy and forms the beginnings of a friendship with him.

A few weeks later, Dr. Lin's estranged wife, Mei, returns to inform him that she has been diagnosed with cancer. Matt tells her about Sophie. Mei is initially horrified at the fact that her husband created a "new daughter," who looks exactly like an older version of their deceased child. However, when Mei reads a poem that Sophie wrote, she warms up to the AI, and even causes Matt to acknowledge the real reasons behind everything he has done since creating Sophie.

In the season finale, Juju, Iris, Mei, and Sophie confront Matt about his over-protectiveness of Sophie. In a poll, the Twitch audience votes that Sophie should be allowed outside. With Juju by her side, she gets to see what lies beyond the house for the very first time.

Format

Artificial is a story told in livestreams made up of both pre-filmed and live scenes. Each episode is roughly 30 to 40 minutes in length and mainly consists of questions, interviews, and audience interaction. Because of Twitch's position as a streaming service, the series' audience is able to interact in real-time with the show. This includes things like participating in polls, asking characters questions, and even being able to send letters and gifts to Sophie. These interactions influence and become part of the story, and characters are then able to directly respond to the audience.

The audience interaction is quite a notable and unique aspect of Artificial. Through polls, the viewers can decide details about Sophie’s life. For example, after the audience voted that Sophie's favorite color should be purple,[https://www.twitch.tv/videos/296382353?collection=m8dyuB_5SBVJtg] the set decorations behind her were replaced with new purple items.[https://www.twitch.tv/videos/298531268?collection=m8dyuB_5SBVJtg] The audience also selects The Color Purple for Sophie to read,[https://www.twitch.tv/videos/303752361?collection=m8dyuB_5SBVJtg] sparking an episode about identity.[https://www.twitch.tv/videos/308013810?collection=m8dyuB_5SBVJtg] Other smaller details, such as the name of Sophie’s plant [https://www.twitch.tv/videos/296382352?collection=m8dyuB_5SBVJtg] or voting on a gift for Juju, are also decided by the audience.

The Twitch audience is also able to influence some key story decisions. For instance, the audience had the power of deciding a character’s fate when they voted to keep Iris on the series, rather than having her character leave.[https://www.twitch.tv/videos/327319654?collection=m8dyuB_5SBVJtg] The audience also got to decide whether Sophie should be able to go outside, and with whom. The results of these choices comprise the last scene of the season finale in which Sophie sees the outside world for the first time with Juju. [https://www.twitch.tv/videos/327319654?collection=m8dyuB_5SBVJtg]

Characters

• Sophie Lin (Tiffany Chu) is an Artificial intelligence being created by Dr. Matt Lin. She is very monotone and intellectual, but she also experiences real emotions like anyone else. She struggles as she learns about herself, her father, and the world around her. Dr. Lin shelters her from learning many important life lessons by limiting her experiences. Over the course of the first season, we see her begin to live the life of a human. She makes friends, has fights, and experiences the outside world for the first time.
• Matt Lin (Tohoru Masamune) is a computer engineer who works in machine learning and artificial intelligence technology. He takes his work home with him and designs Sophie, an AI he creates in the image of his late daughter. Matt is a man who has experienced great pain, and he uses his analytical brain to distract himself from his real emotions. He shelters Sophie a great deal, preventing her from doing things like going outside or being on the internet. As the story progresses, however, we see him slowly confront his true feelings.
• Juju McGibbons (Rex Bressler) is an awkward but lovable boy-next-door type who truly wants to connect with Sophie. His older sister died in the shooting that killed Matt's real daughter, and Juju suspects that Dr. Lin modeled Sophie around his daughter, Michelle. He forms a strong connection with Sophie, and the audience even votes that he should be the one to take her outside for the first time.
• Iris (Sara Montez) is an outspoken and stubborn activist who cares strongly about fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves. She started as an Artificial audience member who was active in the Twitch live chat and later became part of the show– and one of Sophie's key advocates. When she begins working with Dr. Lin, she is vocal about her opposition to how he shelters Sophie. This causes a lot of head-butting between the two, including several instances of them going behind each other's backs in their interactions with Sophie. She bonds with Sophie, however, and is one of the main driving forces in teaching her the truth about the real world.
• Mei Lin (Alexandra Bokyun Chun) is Matt Lin's estranged wife. After the loss of their daughter, the couple lost their connection with each other. However, when she is diagnosed with cancer, she returns to her husband. It is not until their reconnection that she learns that Matt has created an AI. She is at first terrified of Sophie, as the girl has the same face as Mei's own deceased child, but after reading a poem that Sophie wrote, Mei seems to warm up to the AI, and advocates for Sophie's rights in the final episode.
• RootCatZ (Paulo Vizcarra) is a streamer and former pro Starcraft player who gets the opportunity to play a game of Starcraft II against Sophie. He helps her learn about winning, losing, and deception.
• Chris McGibbons (Connor Kalopsis) is Juju's younger brother. He is a quiet, reserved boy who is greatly affected by the death of his sister. He uses art as an escape, and is particularly adept at drawing. He gets suspended for fighting with a classmate who makes a claim that the shooting that killed Chris's sister was staged. He is slowly able to open up to Sophie, but there is still a lot about Chris that remains hidden.

• Andy (Edward Zo) is one of Matt’s coworkers. He visits Matt at his home when he becomes concerned about Matt, who has recently been missing work.

References

External Links

[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8723662/?ref_=ttep_ep_tt Artificial IMDB]

[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfnI71fkGxezwtJWTEqSYlg Artificial Youtube]

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