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- Hi, welcome
to Independent Lens.
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I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS
Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
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If a computer can do everything
better than you,
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does your life have meaning?
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That is a question asked
in tonight's documentary
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Ghost in the Machine,
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a film packed with horrifying
information, funny moments,
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antagonists, and colorful
and crazy characters
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as it explores the pros
and dangerous cons of AI.
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Artificial intelligence
is a polarizing issue
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to say the least.
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Most people acknowledge
its usefulness
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but also fear the unknown.
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What are its limits, and will it
ever take over the world?
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Ghost in the Machine
explores the roots of AI,
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the motives of the super rich
to use it to control people,
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and its controversial history
rooted in eugenics.
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If you need a refresher course
like I did, eugenics,
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founded by 19th-century English
scientist Francis Galton,
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is a discredited theory that
human beings can be controlled
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or improved through the process
of selective breeding.
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That is the AI definition.
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How's that for irony?
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Tonight's film reveals
how Galton's theories
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have filtered into the
modern-day tech culture
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and how AI is being corrupted
by the tech bro culture
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and explores the idea
of techno-fascism.
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It also asks the question
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of just how necessary
artificial intelligence is,
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if it makes human beings
less relevant.
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The film takes the approach that
there is no time to waste
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when it comes to dealing with
how urgent AI regulation is.
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Ghost in the Machine is directed
by Valerie Veatch,
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whose films typically explore
how real-world subcultures
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and internet communities
intersect.
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In one scene, Veatch takes us
back to 2016
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when Microsoft began to use
an AI chatbot,
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which the Bill Gates company
called Tay.
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Tay could interact with people
on Twitter,
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but the bot was shut down
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after it consumed all of the
internet hate speech
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it was exposed to
and started to repeat it,
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spreading racism
at an alarming rate.
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Veatch's film makes the case
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that this should not have been
the course for chatbots
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or interactive AI.
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In a recent interview,
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Veatch said she wanted
to explore the difference
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between AI sifting
through data quickly
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and giving people
easier choices,
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as opposed to AI telling people
what to do.
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She also wanted to make clear
to viewers
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that AI generates information,
not thought.
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The director uses really cool
archival footage
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from over the years,
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which also exemplifies
just how far AI has come
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in the last 40 or 50 years.
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Ghost in the Machine is the
director's third straight film
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that was selected for Sundance.
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Veatch is the youngest director
to debut two feature films
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at the prestigious
film festival.
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In addition to her numerous
nominations and awards,
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she's also directed
an R.E.M. video.
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So, sit back and prepare to be
informed
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and maybe even a little
frightened.
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For what it's worth, even AI
had amazing things to say
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about the talented
Valerie Veatch.
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Ghost in the Machine starts now
on PBS Wisconsin,
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your home for independent film.