Well firsts, 2001 has been described as perhaps the most thoroughly and accurately researched film in screen history with respect to aerospace engineering. 2001 one attempted to anticipate the future so that the film would be authentic as possible. Some of these devices exist today like voice-print identification, chess-playing computer, personal in flight entertainment, flat screen TV monitors, and voice controlled computing. When making 2001, it seemed that Kubrick wanted to make the film as close to the future as possible. It even stepped outside of the classical phase of science fiction. In war of the worlds, the aliens are depicted as a near human species, but this is not so in 2001. While Kubrick wanted to use humans for the convenience of the film, it was decided that true aliens would bare no resemblance to humans and that aspect would represent a falsehood to the film, so they decided to not use a human like alien.
This impacted the established world of science fiction greatly. From this point forward, in many cases, aliens were no longer humanoid, but true creations and representations of what alien life could possibly be, which is open to all interpretation leading to a wide variety of aliens that we can think of today (Ewoks, klingons, etc.) Also, the depiction of HAL, while still not as sophisticated, was thought to be possible in the future, and it seems as though we are headed towards the creation of a HAL 9000. This film set a new precedent for science fiction. It influenced directors such as Spielberg and George Lucas and had effects on their films, like E.T. and Star Wars.
Some interesting comments here, Atlee. I'm not sure they always bear up against the evidence you provide, though. While the aliens you mention don't appear to be human, they are nevertheless humanoid, bipedal, etc. For it's part 2001 doesn't allow for aliens at all, per se. Something seems to be inspiring human evolution, but we never know what it is exactly. In fact, it almost seems as though the film's subject is the human response to alien intelligence rather than anything alien, or even to humanity's own future.
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