This Crime Sci-Fi Cult Classic Quietly Saw the Future Coming, and 13M Viewers Proved It

In the early 2010s, the end of the juggernaut series 24 left a huge void in the action-thriller television landscape. The closest network television ever got in the 2010s to a suitable follow-up to 24 was the notable CBS series, Person of Interest. Created by Jonathan Nolan of The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises fame, Person of Interest provided a slick and compelling techno-spy-thriller over five seasons and 103 episodes. The show was cancelled earlier than planned, after five seasons, and its consistent audience average of 13 million viewers, which is gargantuan compared to the highest-watched broadcast network shows today, proves that Person of Interest was no mere cult classic. It's time to explore how Person of Interest predicted our current A.I. predicament and why it was a worthy entry into the hall of all-time great action-thriller shows.

'Person of Interest' Quietly Predicted Our A.I. Future

In Person of Interest, a mysterious and brilliant software engineer, Harold Finch (Michael Emerson), recruits the unhoused and jaded former soldier and CIA agent, John Reese (Jim Caviezel), to investigate numbers supplied to them by Finch's highly advanced computer surveillance system, dubbed "The Machine." Created as a way to monitor, predict, and prevent terrorist threats for the government, The Machine classifies suspects or "persons of interest" as "relevant" or "irrelevant." Using Finch's covert access to The Machine, Finch and Reese use their skills and resources to investigate the irrelevant persons of interest, helping potential victims of violent crimes or dispensing justice against perpetrators, who are of no concern to the government and law enforcement. However, it's ultimately revealed that what Finch created with The Machine was more than a mere security system. It’s literally "alive."

Over the course of the series, it’s disclosed that The Machine is a self-aware artificial intelligence, capable of learning and evolving. Through many years of trial and error, Finch sought to mold The Machine into a protector that understands morality and determines right from wrong. The Machine can access every digital system, and through data mining and reviewing surveillance footage, it predicts crimes. At first, Person of Interest builds off of post-9/11 fears and themes regarding the overreach of government surveillance, invasion of privacy, and the War on Terror. However, Jonathan Nolan and series showrunner Greg Plageman took their series a step further with the prophetic A.I. aspect, and Person of Interest showcased the dangers of A.I. years before it became an everyday news story.

'Person of Interest' Explores A.I. Systems as the Opening of Pandora’s Box

Currently, everywhere you look, stories about digital A.I., generative A.I., and A.I. learning are dominating the tech world. Across various industries, general workers are concerned about how A.I. systems could potentially replace workers, how A.I. is monitoring citizens, A.I. systems creating deepfakes, how A.I. is utilized to manipulate the truth and the public, and what would happen to humanity if sentient, self-aware A.I. emerged? True, other movies and shows in popular culture have explored advanced super A.I. systems before, like Joshua in WarGames and Skynet in The Terminator movies, but Person of Interest crafted a palpable and realistic A.I. storyline in the 2010s that accurately predicted our current A.I. reality and anxieties.

Additionally, the series examines the idea of a benevolent super A.I. system with The Machine, and later introduces the more malevolent A.I. system, Samaritan, which seeks to rule the world, as Samaritan jettisons The Machine's more humane and discreet approach, disrupting the truth and manipulating the public, much like how A.I. gets exploited today. When Finch and his colleagues started developing A.I. systems, they opened a Pandora’s box. Interestingly, Christopher McQuarrie's version of a malevolent, sentient A.I. antagonist in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning and The Final Reckoning, The Entity, has much more in common with Samaritan than Skynet, specifically with how it uses its power to manipulate the public and the truth. All that happened first in Person of Interest.

'Person of Interest' Went Out With a Bang

The writers of Person of Interest wanted to do more with the series beyond Season 5, but due to its ownership by Warner Bros. Television, syndication deals and profits of the show benefited Warner Bros. more than the show's network, Viacom-owned CBS. As a result, Season 5 was made the final one, and it was reduced to only thirteen episodes. The good news is that Nolan, Plageman, and their writing staff were aware of the pending cancellation, and they were able to plan a proper series finale.

The trade-off is that the shorter Season 5 brought with it a faster and more suspenseful pacing. The final season abandoned the filler storylines, and every episode played out like a major event leading up to the series closer, "return 0." This includes one of the craziest action television car chase sequences ever, in the episode "The Day The World Went Away." Watching Season 5 was like watching a big-budget spy-thriller movie, more so than in past seasons, so the show went out with a bang rather than a lull. Those 13 million viewers who tuned in to Person of Interest from 2011 to 2016 know and remember this series was a thrill ride, and it's still worth the watch.