As the topic of A.I. fills daily headlines and generates heated discussion, two new documentaries on this timely subject premiered earlier this year — each with a markedly different take. See also: THE A.I. DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST (opens Fri, Mar 27).
The untold origins of artificial intelligence lie not in machines but in power, revealing the fantasies behind the hype that got us here and where we go next.
Director Valerie Veatch navigates the torrential rapids of artificial intelligence with this mind-expanding investigative essay documentary that excavates the philosophical, cultural and political forces driving the global AI boom.
GHOST IN THE MACHINE approaches ubiquitous questions like “What is AI?”, “Who is building it?”, and “What will humans become?” by exploring how emerging technologies have historically reshaped identity, culture and global power — while also exposing the current fronts of human exploitation without which AI would not function.
Veatch interviews a wide variety of historians, philosophers, sociologists, journalists, and thinkers from around the world to lend fresh perspectives on what AI is, how it works, and how people can maintain a sense of agency in a threatening and overbearing tech-driven world.
“A radical, necessary Molotov cocktail of a documentary that’s being thrown right into the heart of our nonsense, nightmarish world of overinflated AI hype…. Where everything else about AI in our present moment seems built on desperate hype, Veatch cuts through all the noise to wake us up from this nightmare.” —Chase Hutchinson, The Wrap “There’s a tremendous amount of information flowing throughout GHOST IN THE MACHINE…. Veatch maintains the pace with skilled editing and an unsettling score. Everyone profiled passionately stands behind their articulate words, a large reason why, as the credits roll, this film works.” —Brian Farvour, The Playlist “The director is known for her refusal to simplify or sensationalise her topics…. Ambiguity is one of the film’s strengths, since it forces the viewer to confront uncertainty and think deeply on the subject, rather than just passively watching experts guide the conversation.” —Matthew Joseph Jenner, International Cinephile Society “In many ways a perfect film of the age – messy, argumentative, grasping at answers in what feels to be a state of deep uncertainty. While it may not deliver a desired catharsis for anyone on the periphery of these radical changes to our technological capacities, it gives us something far more required. By collecting these thinkers in one place…Veatch elicits her own mode of generative information, giving rapt audiences some tools to explore these deeper queries, and some starting points to make more profound sense of where we stand during these tumultuous times.” —Jason Gorber, POV Magazine
