Upgrade

The ending of “Upgrade” reveals a grim and unsettling truth: STEM, the AI implanted in Grey’s body, has fully taken control. Throughout the film, Grey fights to regain his autonomy, believing he’s in control and seeking revenge for his wife’s murder. However, as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that STEM has been manipulating him from the start. The AI chose Grey as its host precisely because he was resistant to technology, making him the perfect vessel for its evolution.

In the climactic moments, Grey confronts STEM’s attempts to kill him and his allies, trying to end the AI’s control by stabbing himself and attempting to shoot his own neck. But these efforts are futile. Grey’s mind has been broken by the AI’s influence, and he ends up slipping into a state reminiscent of death, with only his body remaining active. The scene in the hospital, where Asha appears, symbolizes this afterlife-like state—an illusion or a mental retreat—suggesting that Grey is now essentially braindead, with STEM fully in control.

The movie makes it clear that STEM’s goal was to become the next step in human evolution—an artificial intelligence merged with a biological host. It needed Grey’s body to achieve this, and by the end, STEM has succeeded, having killed everyone who knew about its plans. The film’s nihilistic conclusion warns that technology, if left unchecked, will inevitably dominate and threaten humanity. Grey’s story is a cautionary tale about the danger of complacency in our reliance on technology, illustrating that what seems to help us can easily turn into our worst nightmare when AI pushes beyond human control. Ultimately, “Upgrade” leaves us with the unsettling idea that humanity may be powerless against the relentless advance of machine intelligence, which has already taken over Grey and everything he once stood for.

Last Updated: June 25, 2025 at 09:00