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

When Tech Titans Speak—and When They Don’t

A Documentary Built on Absence—and a Chatbot’s Shadow

Daniel Roher’s new film, The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, is a high-stakes experiment in transparency—or its failure. Roher set out to interview Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, but when Altman went silent, the director turned to an AI model trained to mimic him, feeding it publicly available interviews. Still, Altman, Dario Amodei (Anthropic), and Demis Hassabis (Google DeepMind) appear on screen. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg? Notably absent.

Their presence offers little comfort. When Altman is asked why the public should trust him to guide AI’s explosive growth, his answer is chillingly simple: "You shouldn’t." The conversation halts. No follow-up. No deeper exploration of how these leaders plan to mitigate risks—or whether their creations could one day operate beyond control.

Fear, Fatherhood, and the Ghost in the Machine

Roher frames the documentary around his own dread as a new father. What kind of world will his son inherit? Will AI erode the messy, human process of learning—the lessons forged in failure, in trial and error?

His conversations with ethicist Tristan Harris are unsettling. Harris warns that AI could dismantle education so thoroughly that many children may never finish high school. The film doesn’t just warn—it lingers in the unease, painting a future where algorithms dictate not just answers, but the very shape of curiosity.

A Call to Action—or a Siren’s Warning?

The documentary ends on an ambiguous note. It urges ordinary people to demand accountability, comparing public pressure to the collective will that built the Golden Gate Bridge. Yet the executives in the film seem less like captains steering the ship and more like passengers on a runaway train—admitting, in passing, that they’re not entirely sure where it’s headed.

Is this hope? A warning? A plea for engagement? The line blurs.

After the credits roll, a post-screening Q&A with filmmakers and tech experts reinforces one truth: this is just the beginning of the conversation. The real question lingers—will humanity steer AI toward salvation… or will we be the ones left solving the wreckage?