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Review: ‘The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist’ Is More Than Just an Eye-Opening Look at the AI Debate — It’s a Call to Action
March 19, 2026Ben MK
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From its ability to help us craft the perfect email to its talent for creating video clips so realistic that they would fool just about anyone, Artificial Intelligence has become an ubiquitous and unavoidable part of our society. No matter where you turn, it's impossible to tiptoe around the ongoing discourse surrounding the rapid evolution of AI and its integration into our day-to-day lives. Whether it's AI's capabilities for replacing flesh-and-blood human beings in the workforce or the many ways it can enhance the way we work and live, the multitude of possibilities for how AI can be used both for and against us is a topic that's continually up for debate. But just where is AI leading us? And what kind of world will the next generation of humans be living in once today's AI researchers achieve their goal of creating the ultimate AI — a version that will be smarter than all mankind combined? That's the question directors Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell set out to answer in The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, a new documentary in which experts in the field of Artificial Intelligence are interviewed in an attempt to gain a better understanding of what AI is and how it will impact the lives of everyone on the planet. Kicking things off with the very definition of AI, viewers will first get a crash course in how AI models are able to learn new skillsets and predict what comes next in specific scenarios, thanks to the pattern recognition abilities they gain from being fed an essentially limitless supply of data. From there, however, it's a slippery slope, as interviewees like Center for Humane Technology co-founder Tristan Harris and Machine Intelligence Research Institute co-founder Eliezer Yudkowsky are quick to point out that it's impossible to separate the promise of AI from the peril. And as many AI models unintentionally develop the ability to threaten, coerce, and generally manipulate its human creators as a byproduct of their programmed learning, it raises a genuinely terrifying new concern — will the current race to develop the next great AI model, a so-called General AI, end up being a pursuit that will lead to the abrupt extermination of all humans on Earth within the next decade? Using this frightening potential outcome as a springboard, we then hear from experts who are decidedly more optimistic about humanity's place in this AI-centric future — people like XPrize Foundation chairman Peter H. Diamandis and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who, unlike their naysaying counterparts, believe that AI will be nothing but a boon for future generations. Citing AI's ability to help boost virtually every other area of science and technology, these experts paint a picture of a future human civilization free from the burden of serious medical conditions and social inequality. Yet, despite the diametrically opposed views shared by these two groups of experts, there's one thing that everyone interviewed here — including the CEOs of such leading AI companies as OpenAI, DeepMind and Anthropic — can agree on. And that is without public pressure on governments and corporations, there is little to no way of guaranteeing humanity's future — and even if the top AI companies choose to slow down their research in order to implement more safeguards, there's nothing to stop more unscrupulous AI developers from bringing to fruition humankind's worst-case doomsday scenario. Filmed in Roher's backyard office studio and framed against the anxiety caused by the impending arrival of Roher and his wife Caroline's first child — with some quirky, hand-drawn animation based on Roher's own sketches and doodles thrown in to liven up the proceedings — the result provides a uniquely compelling perspective into one of the most pressing topics impacting our world today. Ultimately, though, what viewers should take away from The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist isn't merely a better understanding of this film's subject matter, but rather a desire to get involved in pressuring the world's governments to implement stricter regulations on this quickly-evolving technology. Whether it's at a grassroots level or through labor unions, what this movie makes abundantly clear is that people need to make their voices heard about how they want AI to be used, instead of sitting back and letting the most powerful people on the planet decide it for them. So, with that in mind — and given humanity's track record — does that mean we're all doomed by default? Whether you think the answer to that last question is a resounding yes or whether you believe that we as a society can truly band together for a common good will obviously influence how positive or negative you feel coming out of The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist. What's not up for debate, on the other hand, is how compelling this eye-opening look at AI proves to be. After all, this is technology that's so much more than just videos of Will Smith eating spaghetti. And whether you're pro AI, against AI, or completely ambivalent about it altogether, this documentary might, for better or worse, change your mind. The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist releases March 27th, 2026 from Focus Features. The film has an MPAA rating of PG-13 for language. Its runtime is 1 hr. 43 min. |
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