We have just received official word that Steven Spielberg will next direct A.I. for Warner Brothers. It is a project that has been in the works for quite some time that was originally to be helmed by the late Stanley Kubrick. “A.I.” is an apocalyptic story about robots who possess artificial intelligence. The film will start production in July with an anticipated release date in summer 2001. Spielberg, who will also write the script for “A.I., ” had long been considering a number of projects as his follow-up directorial effort to “Saving Private Ryan, ” including the sci-fi thriller “Minority Report” for 20th Century Fox/DreamWorks with Tom Cruise and the Japanese period piece “Memoirs of a Geisha” for Columbia Pictures/DreamWorks. He decided last month against helming the feature adaptation of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” for Warner Borthers.