PARK CITY, UTAH Jan. 28 (UPI) -- The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, which premiered Tuesday at the Sundance Film Festival, takes a compelling human approach to artificial intelligence. It both explains the technology and its dangers while allaying the most extreme fears.
Daniel Roher, who co-directed with Charlie Tyrell, set out to understand AI. Through a wealth of experts in the field, archival footage, creative illustrations and candid personal footage, the film charts his journey.
The first wave of experts confirms the worst fears of AI's negative potential. The second wave offers so many positive potential uses that it seems utopian.
Further exploration demonstrates how both are tied together. The same AI that could cure cancer could make bioweapons. The same AI that can tutor a child can spy on that child and manipulate them for a corporation's benefit.
Daniel's wife, Caroline Lindy, keeps him accountable. When he's too utopian, she brings him down to Earth and when he's too pessimistic, she forces him to reconcile it.
