A Self-Aware Drone Somehow Doesn’t Spark an Instant Robot Apocalypse in This Scifi Short

Watching Mackenzie Sheppard ’s short Donny the Drone , you might bear that the title character ( voice by Guy Pearce ) would become a killing machine soon after becoming ego - aware . But Donny ai n’t Skynet , and every sentient robot does n’t necessarily have Judgment Day on its nous . Or does it ?

The flick open in 2022 , as Donny — a mathematical function drone who “ woke up ” after a midair hit with a bird , and now talk with the lulling cadence of a new age guru — is being presented with a “ Person of the Year ” award . Since his transformation , he explain , he ’s give himself to being an ambassador for machine ’ ability to help the great unwashed . But despite Donny ’s big award , not everybody embrace his philosophy — or his visual modality for human race ’s future .

We ’ve seen “ the trouble with sentient simple machine ” done many time before , but Donny the Drone proffer a thoughtful new take on that well - trod scifi dominion . Pearce , late seen play android and AI innovator Peter Weyland in Prometheus and Alien : Covenant , is a particularly minded choice to voice the drone who hit a soul — and a slippy agenda along with it .