As AI advances rapidly, More Human Than Human says, “Stop, let’s think about this”

Tommy Pallotta and Femke Wolting

More Human Than Human comes along at a time when perhaps no reminder is necessary: leaving life to bots—whether that means machine learning, artificial intelligence, genuine human-like androids, etc.—might get messy for us humans. Westworld gives us one version of a sentient-machine uprising every Sunday, and news cycles like those involving Cambridge Analytica and Facebook provide gentler reminders that creating increasingly intelligent tech platforms can lead to unwanted manipulation and consequences right now.

But the new documentary (which debuted at South by Southwest and plays at the acclaimed Hot Docs Festival in Toronto this week) doesn’t set out to paint a picture of some futuristic hellscape. Instead, it wants viewers to pause for a second to consider the forever promise of technology. “We grew up in the shadow of the space program, really believing that tech was going to make our lives better,” co-director Tommy Pallotta told Ars. “For five decades, we’ve seen this promise that tech would create more leisure time for us [and] that it’ll make all our lives better. It’s kind of insane we’re still sold the same promise, but what do we really have to show for it?”