‘The AI Doc’ Review: Sam Altman, other tech giants appear in timely film
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In 1964, the famous British science fiction writer Arthur Clarke said that computers had the electronic brains of “complete idiots”, but in another generation they would eventually “think completely better than their creators”.
That prediction, or warning, depending on how you look at artificial intelligence, is how Focus Properties’ new movie “The AI Doc: or How I Became an Apocaloptimist” begins.
Our guide to navigating the chaotic artificial intelligence world we find ourselves in is the film’s co-director, Daniel Roher, the Oscar-winning director behind “Navalny.” A baby is on the way. As artificial intelligence continues to develop at a miraculous pace, Roher tries to search for answers as to whether his children will succeed or suffer.
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Co-director Daniel Roher during the making of the Focus Features release “The AI Doc: or How I Became an Apocaloptimist.” (Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2025 All Rights Reserved.)
The “Artificial Intelligence Doc” is essentially a crash course on the subject, divided into three parts. We first hear from alarmists who predict the end of days. Then we hear from optimists who believe that emerging technology will solve all the world’s problems. And finally, in the third act, we hear from the tech giants leading the AI race, at least those willing to join.
One of the most shocking examples of how different the views of alarmists and optimists were was when Roher asked them whether people should have children.
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Roher speaks with dozens of AI experts with differing opinions. The three people who best express the complex nature of the AI time 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 is best known for appearing in the 2020 Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma.” As Harris explained to Roher, it is impossible to separate the promise and danger of artificial intelligence.
The documentary covers all the hot topics in artificial intelligence, from data centers to deepfakes and the international race to the top (or frankly, the bottom) 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 forwarded interview requests).
Still from “The AI Doc: or How I Became an Apocaloptimist,” a release from Focus Features. (Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2025 All Rights Reserved.)
Personally, I have absolutely no fear of AI as a whole. I use it for work, and I can see it helping society in the future, but I can’t keep looking over my shoulder in case it takes my job one day (there’s no doubt the AI won’t be able to do as personable, witty movie reviews as me, at least for a little longer).
Roher is an excellent tool for capturing the absolute exhaustion and anxiety the general public feels about AI. But this documentary, produced by him and his co-director Charlie Tyrell, doesn’t aim to solve all the questions we have; That’s because no one really has the answers to where AI is going, not even the AI giants who talked to Roher.
Casting his weight as producer is Daniel Kwan, the Oscar-winning director of “Everything Everywhere, All at the Same Time”. Art director Benjamin Fieschi-Rose also deserves praise for enriching the film with fun, interesting stop-motion animations.
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Still from “The AI Doc: or How I Became an Apocaloptimist,” a release from Focus Features. (Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2025 All Rights Reserved.)
Decision
“The AI Doc” is a timely, thought-provoking reality check on a world-dominating technology. Roher’s personal journey further elevates what would otherwise be a solid educational video that would be perfect for a science classroom. Most of the time we watch movies to escape from daily life; This documentary brutally does the exact opposite of what it means.
★★★☆ — TRANSFER LATER
“The Artificial Intelligence Doc: or How I Became an Apocalypse Expert” is rated PG-13 for language. Duration: 1 hour, 43 minutes. Now in select cinemas.
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