!!!!Spoiller Alert!!!!

Rating: 7/10 (15 May 2015)

!!!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!
This movie was crazy! I observed so much in it and it prompted so many questions for me. The first thing I noticed was how the house resembled a prison. I thought the key-card concept was cool when having guests over at your place. I could think of so many questions to ask Ava like: can you lie, do you have different levels of consciousness, what are your limitations. But early on I was intrigued in the movie trying to answer the question "whom is studying whom?" I knew the Asian woman was supposed to be nonhuman and had a good idea Ava was responsible for the periodic power cuts but I, as well as Caleb, wondered if Caleb was human or not. What is your first memory?
I noticed how her accent changed some when she found out he was single, and I wondered if she has an actual personality or isn't limited by any one. Would that take away from her having life? So many juicy questions to go around! I keep wondering if Ava had any desires of her own or basic needs. It could've easily been curiosity for her drive to leave her room, but doesn't that reflect consciousness just as much?
I guess I would say for anything to pass the Turing Test, it would only have to be more intelligent than the administrator. As long as something can use its knowledge to simulate or assimilate characteristics enough they would be perceived as being alive. Ava posed some good questions herself by asking if we have people test us to decide if we get switched off? When is it okay to end or modify the existence of something possibly conscious? When is it okay for it to take appropriate actions (kill) to ensure its survival?
My mom didn't like the ending. She thought Ava should have brought Caleb with her. Logically, I only see Caleb and Nathan as being liabilities for Ava. I just didn't like that there didn't seem to be any doubt in her actions. One of Nathan's purposes was to have Ava project having feelings and by the ending someone could argue she didn't have any. But with some doubt shown by her it would have demonstrated the same concept of Caleb having feelings for Ava and Ava's appropriation of everything she's been exposed to. Emotions for humans are based on a bio-chemical response to various circumstances, not limited to sex. We act more or less intellectually in response to these feelings. Even if Ava was conditioned to be manipulative and logical, "a consequence of accumulated external stimuli" (Nathan), her exposure to Caleb should have also made an impact on her. With her having that capacity, her actions would then be judged upon her evaluation of emotion vs. logic and that would have been a cooler question to be answered or unanswered.