Review : How I became an apocaloptimist

AGI is among us, and it's gonna go great, cause we did great at everything else. Right?

A beautiful picture of Saskatchewan - Photo by Darby P.

Unless you're living under a rock, you've heard of the growing presence of AI in our lives, and you've seen the news - things are going great, aren't they? Well, this movie does a great job at asking those nasty questions about AI, at popping the nasty zit of how it relates to current political events, everyone's stress levels, what to expect from AI, or more specifically AGI (Artificial General Intelligence ; the point in time where AI oversees all of humanity, from your browser's history to nuclear weapons management, in realtime), and so on.

The protagonist makes a strong case: He's a normal guy, growing up normally generally speaking, and starting a family, and like any normal person, he sees this thing, which wasn't a thing just 3 years ago, all of a sudden not only being on every lip, but also, at the center of great changes. Economically, environmentally, sociologically, professionally, no plane of our reality has escaped, or will escape, AI. That, in and of itself, is an impressive feat, considering how many great thought leaders consider it to be a threat on the same level as nuclear power. This is adressed in the documentary. What also is seen in the documentary is the protagonist, genuinely stopping at times to take the new information, and what it implies, all in.

It's done with an impeccable sense of timing, and prompts your awareness of many subject matters that are adjacent to the main topic, which, nobody will escape. It traces a fine line between what there is to be optimistic about, and what there is to discuss, on the perspective of inclusion, human rights, equality, justice - The film wraps up, and effectively captures a very unique moment in time where on one hand, we have the promise of a new world, a revolution greater than the industrial revolution, a world filled of unseen technologicaly prowesses and innovation, the likes of which we can hardly imagine - Yet, on the other hand, it underlines how unprepared and ill-equipped we are, and how unclear the human cost to all this will be, as we yet again struggle with uncertainty when it comes to the questions of political rights and freedoms, corruption, fascism, and how certain of the key players within this industry, those at the forefront of this omnipotent technology, take certain shortcuts and accepting certain losses as tradeoffs, while others succeed at coming across as incredibly human, and well intended.

A riveting conversation

The movie is compelling, sent me and my partner into a fit of excitement, an outburst where we talked about our fears, our worries about where this is all headed, the environmental cost, but more importantly, it raised the stakes as for leadership and de-weaponization of AI, which undoubtedly is the next stop as far as human rights are concerned. Even as I write this entry, Chrystia Freeland just published an article quoting the late great Leonard Cohen in an article published via the New York times, which rightfully contains the words "autoritarianism" and "bullly" when describing the current state of geopolitics - and underlines how we all need to be paying better attention to our politics, and through that, to our people.

Optimism? Yes, for sure ! Apocaloptic? Maybe.

Tags : #ai, #Netflix, #AGI, #entertainment, #documentary, #amazon, #prime, #politics