IFFK 2024: ‘Humans in the Loop’ cautions against Artificial Intelligence driven by dominant narratives

In one of the initial scenes of Humans in the Loop directed by Aranya Sahay, the protagonist Nehma, belonging to the Oraon tribe in a remote village in Jharkhand, is seen lying on a rock on one side with her ear on the ground, observing her surroundings for signs of life in the lifeless and the living. For a moment, the character breaks the fourth wall, observing the audience and conveying that she is taking you on a journey of her story.

Humans in the Loop was screened at 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in the Indian Cinema Now category.  Nehma, an Adivasi woman, is divorced from her upper caste husband Ritesh. The couple has two children, 12-year-old Dhaanu and one-year-old Guntu and in order to gain custody of them, Nehma joins as a data-labeller in an Artificial Intelligence (AI) centre in the village. Dhaanu, however, finds it difficult to adjust with her mother’s way of life. As the story progresses, Nehma realises that AI comes with several biases which discriminate against her own community and that it must be treated like her own children, who must be taught things. 

Sonal Madhushankar in Humans in the Loop
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Data labelling is a process that helps AI to identify data for future use. Labellers like Nehma solve captchas, helping AI to distinguish between people and objects, which has huge implications everywhere in the world. 

The movie explores different themes such as life and lifelessness and the ever-blurring boundaries between the two. Nehma rejoices at the thought of how her children and AI are both growing. She feels deeply for both. But her realisation that both of them project biases against her community anguishes Nehma, portrayed beautifully by Sonal Madhushankar. The protagonist finds life in Nature and everything encompassed in it. From rocks to worms, everything exhibits life and deserves to exist. 

Humans in the Loop, explores the idea of a blank slate whether people or, in this case, AI, is truly born void of prejudices. It traverses through both arguments that it is, and it is not. It also describes the necessity to train AI, which is mostly driven by first world narratives. 

During its 72-minute run, the movie looks at how people from the beginning of civilisation depended on labels. In one of the scenes, during Nehma’s childhood, she tells her friend Roshan about how the paintings in the cave depict the animals living inside it helped their ancestors. However, the present Nehma bears witness to another form of labelling, which would describe a worm to be a “pest”, and a “beautiful” woman to be fair. The idea of dominant narratives created by those with more agency, strongarms the voices of dissent, forcing things to fit into a certain mould driven by the same narrative.   

Porcupines appear as a leitmotif in the movie. Described as the shyest animal in the jungle, it is a symbol of coexistence and familiarity with Nature that Nehma possesses.  

The movie is driven by moving performances from the cast. Ridhima Singh portrays Dhaanu, a teen conflicted about her parents, with the needed subtlety. Another standout performance is by Suniti Mahto, from Sarugarhi village in Jonha, Jharkhand, where the movie was shot, who plays Nehma’s childhood.  

Silences drive Humans in the Loop forward, be it between human characters or otherwise. The oscillations between warmer and colder frames set in the same surroundings aptly mirror the inner turmoil of the characters.

Meet the director

Humans in the Loop is Aranya Sahay’s debut feature film. He has directed five short films of which Songs for Babasaheb and Chait were screened at Mumbai International Film Festival, Signs Films Festival and Jaffna Film Festival. He has worked with Imtiaz Ali on a show called Dr Arora (2022). Aranya, a Film and Television Institute of India alumnus, has also worked with Patrick Graham on Dancing on the Grave, a true-crime show. 

Director of Humans in the Loop Aranya Sahay
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Aranya, who also explored the theme of caste through Songs for Babasaheb, says, “I feel the dominant ethos in Hindi films is quite brahminical. The people you see on screen, even if you see a marriage scene on screen, the rituals are of an upper caste ethos. It is important to explore it from the perspective of an Adivasi or a Dalit person.” He adds,“We are only reflecting homogenity and not diversity.”