(Photo: Screengrab/Inventions World/YouTube)

A sci-fi film titled b is set to feature an AI robot named Erica as its female lead. Backed by Bondit Capital Media, the movie is being made at a budget of 70 million dollars. This will be the first time that a film’s lead is an AI robot.

According to Hollywood Reporter, “b follows a scientist who discovers dangers associated with a program he created to perfect human DNA and helps the artificially intelligent woman he designed (Erica) escape.”

‘b’ is bankrolled by producer Sam Khoze, VFX supervisor Eric Pham, and Tarek Zohdy. Japanese scientists Hiroshi Ishiguro and Kohei Ogawa, who created Erica as part of their robotics studies, have also enabled method acting principals in her AI programming that has taught her how to act.

“In other methods of acting, actors involve their own life experiences in the role. But Erica has no life experiences. She was created from scratch to play the role. We had to simulate her motions and emotions through one-on-one sessions, such as controlling the speed of her movements, talking through her feelings and coaching character development and body language,” Khoze said in a statement.

The makers of ‘b’ are yet to sign its director and Erica’s human co-star, and expect to shoot with the robot in Europe in June 2021.