'The AI Doc' Review: Sam Altman, other tech giants appear in timely film

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In 1964, famed British sci-fi writer Arthur Clarke said that computers had the electronic brain of “completely morons” but in another generation will eventually “completely outthink their makers.”

That prediction — or warning, depending on how you view artificial intelligence — is how Focus Features begins its new film “The AI Doc: or How I Became an Apocaloptimist.”

Our guide navigating the chaotic AI world we find ourselves in is the film’s co-director, Daniel Roher, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind “Navalny.” With a baby on the way. Roher attempts to seek answers whether his children will thrive or suffer as AI continues to develop at miraculous speed.

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“The AI Doc” is essentially a crash course on the subject split into three parts. First we hear from the alarmists who predict the end of days. Then we hear from the optimists who believe the emerging technology will solve all the world’s problems. And finally in the third act, we hear from tech giants spearheading the AI race — at least the ones willing to participate.

One of the most jarring illustrations of how divergent the views of the alarmists and the optimists are is when Roher asks them whether people should be having children.

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Roher speaks with dozens of AI experts with varying thoughts. The three who best articulate the complex nature of the AI times we live in are author/professor Yuval Noah Harari as well as Center for Humane Technology co-founders Aza Raskin and Tristin Harris, the latter known for his appearance in the 2020 Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma.” As Harris explains to Roher, it’s impossible to separate the promises and the peril of AI.

The documentary tackles all the hot topics in AI from data centers to deep fakes and the international race to the top (or bottom, frankly) of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). Roher sits down with three of the five CEOs pioneering AI in the US: Open AI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Google Deepmind co-founder Demis Hassabis (xAI CEO Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg passed on the interview requests).

I personally don’t absolutely dread AI as a whole. I use it for work and I can see it helping society in the future, but I can’t help but keep looking over my shoulder amid the possibility it will someday take my job (fingers crossed that AI can’t craft personable, witty movie reviews as well as me at least a bit longer).

Roher is a perfect vessel that captures the utter exhaustion and anxiety the general public feels about AI. But this documentary by him and co-director Charlie Tyrell isn’t meant to solve all the questions we have — that’s because no one really has the answers on where AI will go, not even the AI titans that speak with Roher know.

Throwing his weight as a producer is the Oscar-winning director of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Daniel Kwan. Also deserving of the nod is art director Benjamin Fieschi-Rose, who enhances the film with fun, quirky stop-motion animation.

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The Verdict

“The AI Doc” is a timely, thought-provoking reality check on a technology dominating the world. Roher’s personal journey elevates what would otherwise be a solid educational video perfect for a science class. We often watch movies for an escape from everyday life — this documentary brutally does the opposite like it’s meant to.