Valerie Veatch, known for documentaries like Love Child and Me at the Zoo, explores the intersection of subcultures and internet communities. Her latest film, Ghost in the Machine, tackles a broader and more urgent topic: artificial intelligence, its dark history in eugenics, and its questionable utility today, despite the stock-market bubble inflating the value of major tech companies.
A Polemic Primer on AI History
The film is largely polemic, guiding viewers toward AI-skeptical conclusions with persuasive soundbites. It also serves as a straightforward primer on AI history, covering a dazzling array of colorful figures, including Victorian eugenicist Francis Galton, Silicon Valley founder and racist William Shockley, and current billionaire Elon Musk. While not covering the recent legal battle between Musk and Sam Altman, the film remains compelling.
Eclectic Interviewees
The interviewees include philosopher Johnathan Flowers, who questions the need for AI; linguist Emily M Bender, who traces the term AI's origins; and Silicon Valley historian Becca Lewis, who distills complex background into clear narration. However, the film sometimes feels dense, like a university lecture with archive clips, and might have worked better as long-form journalism. For instance, interviews with Nairobi-based LLM employees lack depth on how their work affects them.
Amusing Device
The film uses capitalized Helvetica text in the upper-right corner to indicate whether an image is AI or NOT AI, as many viewers cannot tell the difference. Ghost in the Machine is in UK cinemas from June 5.
