What Does The Ending Of Ex Machina Really Mean?

How Did Ava Get On The Helicopter?

One of the more silly-yet-important questions to come out of Ex Machina is how Ava actually managed to escape the secluded estate. The helicopter pilot was coming to pick up Caleb, but instead finds a woman. And oddly, without questions, whisks her off to safety.

The film skips over the actual interaction between Ava and the pilot, instead cutting from the helicopter landing straight to it flying away. This side-steps a proper explanation, but what it represents is pretty important. This is Ava's first real-world Turing test - can she use her abilities to manipulate and tailored appealability to get out of an impossible situation?