If you're feeling anxious about AI and what it means for the future of humanity, you should watch The AI Doc: Or, How I Became an Apocaloptimist . As I noted in my review , the film aims to deliver some clarity amid all the hype. Now that it's in theaters, we sat down with director Daniel Roher, who won an Oscar for his film Navalny , to dive deeper into his complicated feelings around AI.

The entire topic made him nervous, Roher said, so he decided to team up with similarly anxious colleagues to demystify AI using film. He describes the goal of the project to be a sort of "first date" with AI, a way to hear about its potential benefits from AI boosters, while also taking in the many negatives brought up by critics. It’s probably too late to stop AI entirely, but he thinks we can at least try to find ways to limit the worst impulses of the tech industry.

"I wanted to make this movie because I was scared shitless, that's the crux of it," he said in an interview on the Engadget Podcast.…