The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist

Oscar-winner Daniel Roher directs this enlightening documentary about the existential uncertainties—both hopeful and cynical—surrounding the rise of artificial intelligence with The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist
. While the questions raised here have been explored numerous times throughout this decade, one might wonder why it took until 2026 for a major documentary like this to be released, rather than, say, 2022. Nonetheless, the film offers eye-opening questions and thought-provoking answers from various experts in the tech and cyber worlds.

Roher adds a personal touch by engaging with leading experts to understand what the future holds for his child. He balances his anxiety with a term coined in the film, “apocaloptimism,” which merges “apocalypse” and “optimism.” It describes a perspective where the collapse of archaic modern systems is seen as inevitable, yet necessary for humanity to evolve collectively—through health, finance, and the environment—toward a society with less hardship and more harmony.

The film is structured in distinct blocks. The first half explores cynicism in the “Pessimistic” block, followed by the “Optimistic” block, where Roher interviews representatives from the Center for Humane Technology (Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin). In the third block, we delve into the gray areas of AI, showcasing both its advantages and the risks we will inevitably face. Roher secures interviews with the leaders of top tech companies, including Sam Altman (OpenAI), Demis Hassabis (Google DeepMind), and Dario Amodei (Anthropic), to discuss the duality of AI. They touch on the threat of adversaries like China or Russia, and the risk of AI being co-opted by extreme ideologies to regress progress and consolidate power. These interviews give the film the feel of a “debate” where even the CEOs harbor significant doubts.

Courtesy Focus Features

These are the types of questions most people often reflect on, and many are cynical about the future due to the current turmoil our world is enduring—ongoing wars, climate change, inflation, and the rise of totalitarianism spreading through divisive ideologies. The film also examines the potential for deepfakes, hyper-personalized misinformation, and automated censorship. Beyond the political risks, Roher explores how these tools might “dumb down” society; how we can find humor in something as mindless as a horse diving into a pool is beyond me, yet it speaks to a shifting cultural landscape where depth is often traded for a quick, algorithmic spark.

We are also introduced to Daniel’s wife, Caroline, whose pregnancy is the central anchor of the film. The documentary becomes a “father-to-be” narrative; it isn’t just an examination of technology, it is framed through Roher’s personal anxiety about bringing a child into a future with so many existential threats. He uses the news of Caroline’s pregnancy as the emotional driving force for his investigation into whether AI will create a utopia or a dystopia for his future child.

Caroline serves as the film’s narrator and the “voice of reason” to Roher’s more frantic, “panic-attack” style of investigative filmmaking. She acts as a grounded counterweight both mentally and creatively to the extreme attitudes Roher adopts depending on who he is interviewing. To represent their internal struggles and hopes, the film utilizes hand-drawn animation of the couple. The documentary effectively uses their journey toward parenthood to move the conversation from erudite “tech talk” to a visceral, human question: “I have this baby on the way; are we doomed?”

While the ideas on display are no different than the concerns we constantly hear from friends, family, or neighbors at a local diner, the questions remain timely. The most interesting aspect of the film is how it contemplates theories of totalitarianism and the ways it can creep into societies. If the wrong people hold control of AI, words will always hold the power to manipulate people into supporting cruelty. It is an essential watch—and a deeply sobering one.

The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist is now playing in theaters