Review: "The AI Doc: Or How I Became an. Apocaloptimist"

Drew’s Review.

The AI Doc: or How I Became an Apocaloptimist opens with a decades old Arthur C. Clarke interview in which the famed science fiction writer predicts the eventual, inevitable superiority of artificial intelligence here on Earth.  His speculation became the central theme of Stanley Kubrick’s epic film 2001: A Space Odyssey, released in 1968 (which Clarke co-wrote).

In the movie, the futuristic computer HAL 9000 became the embodiment of our worst technological nightmare—that advanced computers would eventually become self-aware and consequently develop a sense of self-preservation that might cause them to terminate the lives of human beings who they perceived to be a threat to their existence.

While we collectively breathed a sigh of relief back when the year 2001 arrived and talking, thinking, murderous computers in movie had not become a reality, much has happened in the 25 years that followed. 

The AI Doc takes stock of where we stand in our developing, increasingly complex relationship with artificial intelligence.  It’s an unsettling reality check involving interviews with some of the top experts in the field. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkPbV3IRe4Y

The film’s director and interviewer, Daniel Roher asks the questions that are on everyone’s minds, namely, what are we facing in the immediate future as computers rapidly take control of the world.  For Roher, the questions are even more pressing since he is a father-to be wondering what life will be like for his child over the next few decades.

The people interviewed in the film include the CEOs of OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and Deep Mind, as well as an impressive list of scholars and industry insiders.  In general, their comments are direct, dark and largely dire.  It’s not what anyone wants to hear.

The message is sobering.  Though there are some glimmers of hope, the consensus is more apocalyptic than optimistic.  Ther term “Apocaloptimist” in the movie’s subtitle reflects the contradictory points of view expressed, and the search for a positive ray of light in an accelerating chain of events that appears to be unstoppable.

The AI Doc is an ambitious undertaking crushed by the gravity of its subject matter.  The information overload can be mind-numbing at times, despite the movie’s colorful graphics, animation and rapid-fire cutting of stock footage that supplements the lengthy interviews.  It’s a documentary that leans heavily toward the shock value of alarming factual information.

Stylistically, a criticism is the trendy use of pulsing, cartoony ID graphics that make the names and titles of the interviewees difficult to read.  It’s inappropriate and annoying.

Perhaps a larger criticism of the movie is its inability to draw conclusions or offer answers, though that may be impossible.  What’s clear is that right now, even the best and brightest human minds can only offer conjecture and educated guesses. 

To paraphrase, we should take the threat of AI as seriously as global nuclear war and be aware there is so much potential for things to go wrong.  That said, if we can be the most mature version of ourselves, there might be a way through this.

We can only hope, and perhaps pray that humanity doesn’t soon find itself frantically begging some all-controlling version of AI to “open the pod bay doors” and let us all back in.

The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist is rated PG-13.