Probing the ethical implications surrounding the use of AI, Franklin Ritch’s debut feature hinges on a high-concept premise: an entirely digital avatar of a young girl named Cherry (Tatum Matthews) is used as bait to trap paedophiles in online chatrooms. Without the signature spectacle of the sci-fi genre, The Artifice Girl is a markedly low-key and small-scale endeavour, steeped in philosophical musings that ultimately seem stagey rather than cinematic.

Divided into three chapters spanning decades, the film moves through a series of single locations. It starts in a police interrogation room where Ritch’s Gareth, Cherry’s creator, is questioned by Deena (Sinda Nichols) and Amos (David Girard), members of a taskforce combatting child sexual abuse. Once Gareth reveals Cherry is a virtual being, concerns arise as to whether she can meaningfully consent to interacting with men on a daily basis. As Cherry grows increasingly sentient, the same talking points are reiterated in the second section of the film, as Gareth advocates to transfer Cherry’s intelligence into a physical form.

It’s questions about what it means to be human – is it the sense of free will or the ability to create art? – are not without merit, but these thorny dilemmas are tackled during cliche-laden, tiresome quarrels. The use of single locations – no doubt because of budget constraints – doesn’t help. Little is done to elevate these spaces, and the camera merely swings back and forth between characters shouting their grievances.

Lance Henriksen’s gravitas as the older Gareth in the third act briefly breathes some life into the stilted dialogue, but his performance can’t save the film from its tell-not-show didacticism. Filled with complex but forgettable arguments, The Artifice Girl fails to translate its ideas into visual terms.

• The Artifice Girl is released on 1 May on digital platforms