GitS had none of the philosophy that drove the 1995 film & SAC series. Just a collection of live action reshoots of the anime.
I actually prefer the new Ghost in the Shell to Ex Machina because it's far more realistic. I think the malicious singularity will spawn from a collectivist group of nihilist humans.
The big mother AI from iRobot is a great example. It'll be programmed to protect us from ourselves and justify killing people for the greater good saying "My logic is undeniable"
you pretty much have to be a nihilist to be a collectivist because you're rejecting your own well being for the self-righteous narcissism that comes from altruism.
Ah yeah see, my interpretation is that Ex Machina is waaay more about the humans than it is the robots. There's a big meta about playing God. What it means to be conscious/unconscious.
One definition of consciousness is a being that knows it can be killed(and therefore knows what it's doing when it hurts/kills). So the irony is that the humans in Ex are unconscious.
Personally though, I like a story with flawed characters who learn and grow. Ex Machina is amazing and haunting but ultimately it's just an allegory like Animal Farm or Ayn Rand.
I would expect AI that is much smarter than everyone else to not be as flawed or grow as much as people. & I like stories that paint an ideal, something to strive for (eg Ayn Rand).
an ideal even at the expense of characters "growing". Think its more interesting to watch the environment/world change around these types of characters/bend to their point of view.
So like- the users fall in love with the tech because it gives us something we want; the creators of tech are aware of the dangers but they're too busy playing Gad to take precautions