Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
David Alexander

Westworld at 50: Michael Crichton’s bleak vision of AI remains chilling

Yul Brynner in Westworld
Yul Brynner in Westworld. Photograph: Mgm/Allstar

Welcome to Westworld! It’s a whole town from the 19th-century American west, immaculately recreated for your enjoyment and populated with hyper-lifelike robot inhabitants – an amusement experience so immersive Disneyland should close its mousy-eared gates in resigned humiliation.

There are saloons and brothels, and a bank perfect for a daring robbery. There’s also sex – wild, unhinged, avant garde sex – available on demand and to specification courtesy of the acquiescent locals. So acquiescent are the locals, in fact, that they’ll let you shoot them, too. Over and over again, while they bleed lifelike blood and appear to be in very real pain.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.