In Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence, the distinction between real human organisms (Orga) and mechanically constructed robots (Mecha) is made quite clear. In this movie humans have been creating Mechas for different purposes that are beneficial for themselves, and humans don not seem to expect these robots to possess any emotions or human-like qualities. However, David, a boy Mecha, was built as the first child Mecha, constructed to love. This sort of Mecha is typically ideal for parents to adopt in replace for their human child. David is adopted by a Henry and Monica - whose son, Martin, is in a coma. As soon as Monica starts to accept and care for David, Martin returns home. Martin and David could not coexist in the same home. David, a Mecha of love, only wants Monica ("mommy") to love him back, and this movie explores his journey over 2000 years to find Monica's love for him.

After being kicked out of the house for unintentionally harming Martin, David with his super toy, Teddy, wanders the wilderness, trying to become a real human boy so that Monica will love him. At the Flesh Fair, where stray robots are brutally destroyed for humans' entertainment, the crowd will not allow David to undergo this cruelty, since he seems different than the other Mechas. As the movie progresses, David acts more and more like a human as a result of having dreams and aspirations. At the end of their journey, David and Teddy are in Manhattan, New York, which in present day is submerged by the rising sea level. In a hijacked police amphibicopter, the two find themselves in front of an old statue of the Blue Fairy from the Pinokio story, who changes Pinokio into a real boy. After 2000 years pass in front of this statue under water, David and Teddy are discovered by aliens during an Ice Age with the Mecha and Orga races extinct. The aliens' advanced technology and fascination in David allow David to spend a day with a recreation of Monica in their home. That day is the best day of David's life, and Monica tells him that she loves him. David then falls asleep for the first time in his life and creates subconscious dreams in his sleep, which is what his creator's goal was.

This movie relates to our course matter through the struggle of how to treat robots that appear and act like real humans. David acquires sensations of pain, love, and hate that are different from other Mecha's capabilities, and humans do not know how to react to this artificial human duplicate. Does David have a mind? Humans do not know, but it seems as though he does.