Do You Trust This Computer?

Let me start by saying that i am very interested in computers, and i have been since the early 1980's. Since then i have been working with computers, used them for gaming, for social interactions, i have used them for entertainment, like listening to music, watch movies, and so on. I have basically spent my entire life since i was only a child, on a computer.

This documentary is about A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) and some of my favorite movies of all time are 2001: A Space Odyssey, Terminator 1&2 and Wargames, all movies being used to describe things in this documentary. Some of these movies might have given many people the wrong idea about A.I. and eventually what it can do. I however have been paying attention somewhat closely. By reading articles and watching documentaries for decades about this, i am very aware of the progress being done in the field of A.I. But i don't think most people are. Therefor watching this documentary might be one of the single most important things anyone can ever do.

Also, i just have to mention that i deleted my facebook account many years ago, when i started to understand how much i could be manipulated using it. It was when the Snowden leaks happened, a lot of people said back then, that they were going to delete their facebook account, but as it turned out, less than 1% actually did. They had become so dependent on the platform, their entire life is now depending on it.

This is how it begins. It is one thing to become dependent on electricity for example, or that your food is guaranteed free of toxics and bacteria, or that your TV show actually begins on time. Being dependent on A.I. is something else entirely. We are talking about computers that already know everything about you, and are constantly storing information about you, building a profile to better understand what you want and desire.

This documentary does a great job in making you understand how the world you currently live in, is operated by code, without your knowledge, actually without anyones knowledge. Thing is, no one really knows how A.I. thinks, we only make it, and off it goes on it's own adventure. This can lead to catastrophic events that can end the entire human race in just moments. And this is not some distant future predictions, this is happening right now.

Everything from search algorithms, self driving cars, chess playing robots, robots used in medical industry to detect cancer and other deceases, surveillance systems that can detect and identify faces in milliseconds, military armed drones that can detect threat and intervene all on their own. All of this is already here, and this is already scary, but this is only the beginning. Were we go from here is a very uncertain path.

Elon Musk, which is one of the people being interviewed in this documentary has previously stated that he thinks there is a very high chance that A.I. will end us, and this documentary will go a long way explaining how that might happen.

Do you trust this computer? is essential for everyone to watch, it is well made, it explains things in a way that makes this subject a lot easier to understand. It however doesn't bring much new information to those that know a lot about this already, but i recommend watching it anyways.

10/10 - Essential watch

Greetings again from the darkness. When asked if they believe a computer could ever be conscious, two young woman combine to respond: 'No. Unless they program it that way'. And that answer is at the core of director Chris Paine's (WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?) latest exploration of Artificial Intelligence. Are we controlling the machines, or could they end up controlling us?

Early on, the point is made that science-fiction has numbed us to the potential pitfalls and risks of A.I. Fingers are pointed at some favorites such as TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, WARGAMES, EX MACHINA, THE MATRIX, and ROBOCOP. We have come to accept A.I. as high level entertainment rather than acknowledging the inroads being made by firms such as Google.

It is explained that Google search is actually a form of Artificial Intelligence and the algorithms are collecting more data than we have stopped to realize. For a film like this, expert talking heads are a necessity, and director Paine delivers. We hear from AI experts, writers, journalists, and doctors. The lineup includes Jonathan Nolan, Elon Musk, and Stuart Russell, and each offers fundamental insight for the topic, leaving us with the notion that A.I. is capable of 'incredible miracles, as well as incredible horrors'. We are also informed that "it's not the future, it's the present".

Specific areas impacted by A.I. and explored here include: self-driving cars, medical applications, military weaponry, and financial market data. Weaponized drones are an example, and one surgeon provides a real life case study of how a computer would have an advantage over him. Time is spent on the "Jeopardy" experiment where IBM's Watson (created by David Farucci) goes up against the top contestants and wins. Robotics are also a focus here, and the impact goes far beyond the loss of factory jobs.

Well known documentary writer Mark Monroe (ICARUS, FED UP, THE COVE) helps director Paine with the presentation structure since so many topics are touched upon. The electronic score is a bit overbearing at times, and we can't help but question the motivation behind the film's dedication, "In Memory of Stephen Hawking". The film could be viewed as high tech fear-mongering, however, it's more of a wake-up call to pay attention to the developments that are occurring (and how data is being collected and processed). The last thing we want is for the film's opening quote to come true: "You are my creator, but I'm your master" (Mary Shelley from "Frankenstein").

A look into the future costs and benefits that current technological advancements may present. Though I will say there is a few authors/writers that seemed to be "fear-mongering" by exaggerating things; there is also a great deal of brilliant tech minds speaking straightforward.

It was devil's work to put fire on water and have steam ships. Yet most people were wise enough to enjoy the speed and the regular schedule over the concerns of the ones getting rich on fear.

In other time, other part of the world and people were destroying the machines because somehow people will suffer less from cold if there is less clothing.

More recently because Westerners are way too fat to reach their expectations of immortality, the rest of the World should go hungry.

Finally, this is about the sins of AI. Sad, disgusting, uninspired. If only the arguments were a little original. Muslims are said to have about the same proprieties. Before that were the Jews. Or maybe the Roma.

Hello from the future!

Several guests predicted that within five years, AI would achieve autonomous learning and understanding.

"in three to five years, the AI technology will be able to autonomously learn, how to understand, and how to build understanding." So now in 2025, we can witness the AI domination in every aspect of life, the theories and predictions that were introduced in this movie were very accurate, and that's why this movie should have more recognition than it has.

The guests were industry leaders, carefully chosen for their expertise, which gave more creditability to the movie.

However, many shots could have been removed during editing. Perhaps they aimed to achieve a runtime of more than ninety minutes by including them.