An AI Robot Replaces a Chaebol Heir in ‘Are You Human Too?’

An AI robot serves as a substitute for a chaebol heir in “Are You Human Too?” Add this Korean drama series to the list of other Korean dramas addressing the AI phenomenon. This K-drama was released in 2018; has 36 episodes; and can be categorized as Romance, Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Action.

Greed knows no bounds. It’s a good thing that human emotions like love and loyalty can be used to fend off greedy vultures. Also, an AI robot twin can come in handy if someone is trying to kill you.

‌♦ A Chaebol Heir is Almost Killed and a Substitute Android is Sent as His Replacement

There is the human Nam Shin and then there is Nam Shin III, an android, AI robot. The human Nam Shin was separated from his mother, Oh Ro-Ra, at a very young age. It was said that his father committed suicide, but he was taken from his living mother by force.

His grandfather was rich and powerful and used to always getting what he wanted. He even threatened the young child and told him to tell his mother that he no longer wanted to live with her. If he didn’t his mother would be hurt. So the little boy did as he was told to protect his mom.

But Nam Shin grew up feeling abandoned and very angry. When he was a young adult, he slipped away and flew from South Korea to the Czech Republic. Why did he go there? That reason was not immediately revealed. But once he was there he saw his twin on the streets, i.e. he came face-to-face with Nam Shin III. Just as he was about to walk to him, the human Nam Shin was hit by a truck.

Nam Shin’s mother who lived in the Czech Republic witnessed the hit-and-run, called for an ambulance, and took her injured son to safety. He was alive but in a coma. The mother knew that the accident was a murder attempt. She sent the AI robot, Nam Shin III, back to Korea in her son’s place. Mainly, she wanted to protect her son’s rightful place as the chaebol heir. But also to use the AI robot to confuse her son’s enemies by making them think their murder attempt had failed, and bring them to justice.

Nam Shin III was a state-of-the-art AI robot built by Oh Ro-Ra and a fellow scientist. This AI robot looked human and looked exactly like the human Nam Shin. The mother believed that her son would survive and once he woke up, the android AI robot would be deactivated or terminated using a “kill switch”.

Nam Shin’s loyal trusted assistant, Ji Young-Hoon, agreed with the mother’s plan and trained the android to behave like the human Nam Shin. The AI robot learned so quickly and so well that other humans thought they were interacting with the chaebol heir. Many people were surprised at how well he was doing his job; especially the grandfather. It was as if he was a completely different person.

♦ Why Would an Android Need a Bodyguard?

Kang So-Bong was once a bodyguard for the human Nam Shin but got fired for taking photos of him and selling them. Her termination was justified but from that point forward she couldn’t find a job. There was a black mark on her employment record. Then she found out that Nam Shin had arranged the incident. He knew she was taking photos and tricked her because he wanted to cause a public incident that would be circulated on social media.  He knew it would piss off his grandfather.

When Nam Shin III, the AI robot, appeared in public, thinking that he was the Nam Shin that fired her, Kang So-Bong confronted him before a large audience and demanded an apology. The result of this confrontation was that she was rehired as Nam Shin’s bodyguard and also secretly hired by Nam Shin’s enemies to spy on him and relay information back to them.

Kang So-Bong agreed to spy until she realized that she had picked the wrong people to side with. Money is not everything.  The people who hired her to spy were dangerous and threatened her. The threats did not stop with her. She now understood that the human Nam Shin and the AI robot, Nam Shin III, were both in danger.

As time went on, she grew close to the AI robot and by interacting with her, Nam Shin III evolved into a more human-like machine. She became a loyal friend and grew to love him even though he was an AI robot.

So far the plan of substituting Nam Shin III for the human Nam Shin is working, until …

• Seo Ye-Na’s fiancée discovers that the real Nam Shin is in a coma. She agrees to keep the matter a secret but she is unhappy with a piece of metal that has the face of the man she loves.
• The real Nam Shin wakes up and is not happy to know that not only does the substitute robot look exactly like him, but that robot has received his mother’s love all these years, and everybody is praising the robot. He grew up angry, but now he’s jealous and angry!

What happens when Nam Shin III, the AI robot, is in the middle of a conflict between good humans and bad humans? Nam Shin III feels no pain, no emotions, can not read human faces to understand them, and “learns” that not only can he be manually switched off and on, but he can be programmed to hurt or even kill people. Can an AI robot reprogram itself to override “evil human intentions”?

Main Characters:

• Nam Shin and Nam Shin III (played by Seo Kang-Joon)
• Doctor Oh Ro-Ra (played by Kim Sung-Ryoung, “Love to Hate You”)
• Ji Young-Hoon (played by Lee Joon-Hyuk, “Along With the Gods”)
• Kang So-Bong (played by Gong Seung-Yeon, “Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency”, “My Only Love Song”)
• Seo Ye-Na (played by Park Hwan-Hee, “The Matchmakers”, “Numbers”)

Where to Watch

Rating:

• IMDb: 7.9 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 8.2 out of 10 stars
• Dramabeans: 9.2 out of 10 stars
• Public reviews posted via Google: 4.9 out of 5 stars
• Viki viewers rated this series 9.6 out of 10 stars

My personal rating aligns with the rating given by Viki viewing audience on “Are You Human Too?” This series kept my attention from beginning to end. Seo Kang-Joon did an excellent playing both the human Nam Shin and the AI robot, Nam Shin III. His android smile was adorable.

However, if I’m being honest, the ending confused me a little.

• Are you saying a humanoid AI robot could be used as a substitute for humans to experience true love?
• If so, do we ignore the possibility that the robot programmed to hug a human when they cry could be reprogrammed to crush a human in a bear hug and kill them?

In the end, isn’t the AI robot just a machine created by humans and those robots do not come with a 100% guarantee that the humans won’t do wicked things using the robot?  Just saying.

• Other AI K-Drama reviews published via PopGeeks:  I am Not a Robot and My Holo Love.

LINKS OF INTEREST:

• “Are You Human Too?” Achieves Highest Viewership Ratings Yet | Soompi
• Are You Human Too? VS. I Am Not A Robot: Kdrama Comparative Review | The Desi Dragoness Diaries
• 7 Reasons to Watch Are You Human Too | THOUGHTSRAMBLE

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

Viki Global TV. “ARE YOU HUMAN TOO? – OFFICIAL TRAILER | Seo Kang Joon, Gong Seung Yeon, Lee Joon Hyuk, Park Hwan Hee.” YouTube Video. YouTube, February 14, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nORbLbrA5bA.‌