The Machine vesus Samaritan

     There are two AIs in Person of Interest taking two completely different ways of actions. One is called The Machine (TM), created by the main characters, and the other one is called Samaritan, a newer AI system aiming to destroy and replace TM.
     The initial reason for creating an AI system is the necessary homeland security in America. After 9/11 happened, Finch, one of the main characters, began to build an AI system later he referred as The Machine in order to supervise people and find out potential terrorists by monitoring all people’s phone calls, spying on people’s life through surveillance cameras, hacking into computers and so on. TM appeared to be omnipotent and played the role of God in the modern society. Yet, she (as another character ROOT referred) also had human morality. She only sent out the basic social security numbers about the potential terrorists, killers, and victims of severe assaults. Other information remained confidential to humans. Her goal, no matter if it was her own goal or Finch’s programming, was to save people’s life. Both the life of ten thousand people and of only one individual matter to her. In addition, her creator, Finch, always showed precaution and distrust against her.
     On the other hand, the newer system Samaritan, was extremely aggressive and radical. She also spied on people and monitored them everywhere and every second, but she eradicated all potential threats to both the society and herself, no matter whether the potential threats would turn out into real threats or not. Finch and his team were definitely neither killers nor terrorists, but they were the priority target in Samaritan’s list because they were working for TM and Finch was the creator of TM. Samaritan also exhibited all the information thoroughly to her assets, namely humans working for her. In addition, the people working for her actually worship Samaritan as the necessary God in the society because she will be the justest ruler in the whole world. They gained orders from her, followed her instructions, and never asked why.
     It is interesting to consider the background settings when The Machine and Samaritan were created in the show. TM appeared right after 9/11, and it seemed to reflect the government’s supervision and invasion of people’s privacy at that time. It is powerful, omnipotent, immaterial and even eternal. Although ROOT constantly referred TM in a human way, TM actually didn’t have any physical body. She was combining the terms and sentences in people’s daily phone calls to speak. She didn’t have her own voice. Her main computers haven’t shown even once throughout the whole show (or they have now, I’m one season falling behind). On the other hand, the most difficult part for Finch to create her was to teach her morality. Human morality is always nuanced and vague, but it is also what separating human beings from AIs in most movies. He had built numerous versions of TM, and the TM existing now was the only one successfully understood and embraced human morality. Other versions of TM either tried to escape or tried to kill Finch, which were eventually destroyed by Finch as a result.
     Meanwhile, Samaritan was the replacement after TM was exposed to the public and required to shut down. The government had to close TM to comfort the public, but they did not dare to present America naked to terrorism without the protection from a surveillance AI system. Therefore, they replaced the old AI with a new one. Moreover, Samaritan also stood for “war” in the show. According to Finch and ROOT, it was a war not only between The Machine and Samaritan, but also between human beings and another form of the highly intelligent creature which was superior to humans. In other words, once Samaritan gained all her (or its) control, humans would become her slaves immediately and there would be no way to fight back.
     I think the only point that makes The Machine and Samaritan so different is Finch. He fully acknowledged and experienced the weakness and the darkness in humanity, but he still insisted on and believed in it. He lost almost all the precious in his life, but he never lost hope. And he tried thousands and thousands of times to teach The Machine about what he believed in human. And that was why The Machine cared the main characters and struggled to save other people’s life even when she was also in extreme danger. This was what Samaritan lacked. Finch also exhibited the fear, the anxiety, and the distrust in a creature that was much more intelligent, more capable and more powerful than humans, even though he created the AI himself. It was the dread of loss of the right to control and determine one’s life.