A new documentary premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, 'The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist', delves into the promises and perils of artificial intelligence through the lens of personal anxiety. Co-directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell, and produced by Daniel Kwan of 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' fame, the film features interviews with leading AI experts, critics, and entrepreneurs, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Roher's interest in AI began after experimenting with OpenAI's tools, such as ChatGPT, which could produce paragraphs and illustrations in seconds. The sophistication of these tools both thrilled and unnerved him, especially as AI began reshaping the film industry. His anxiety deepened when he and his wife learned they were expecting their first child, prompting the central question: is it safe to bring a child into a world rapidly advancing in AI?
The film convenes experts to explain AI mechanics and clarify nebulous terms. Researchers like Yoshua Bengio, Ilya Sutskever, and DeepMind co-founder Shane Legg agree that aspects of AI models are beyond human understanding. Tristan Harris of the Center for Humane Technology warns that any example in the film will appear clumsy by its release, given the pace of machine learning.
The documentary presents both doomer and optimistic perspectives. Doomers, including Harris, Aza Raskin, and AI alignment pioneer Eli Yudkowsky, warn that super-intelligent AI could lead to human extinction. Yudkowsky's 2025 book is bluntly titled 'If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies'. Connor Leahy of EleutherAI compares the potential relationship between super-intelligent AI and humans to that of humans and ants: 'We don’t hate ants. But if we want to build a highway over an anthill – well, sucks for the ant.'
On the optimistic side, figures like Peter Diamandis, founder of the XPRIZE Foundation, offer a contrasting view. The film ultimately explores whether AI represents an existential threat or an epochal opportunity, leaving audiences to ponder the future.
