Film

iHuman

iHuman is a 2019 documentary that sits you down with the people actively building artificial intelligence to ask what we should actually worry about. It's less doomsday forecast than thoughtful conversation—part technology explainer, part ethics seminar. For anyone unsettled by AI's rapid advancement but tired of hype, this offers grounded perspective from the people who know.

TMDb rating3.5

If you liked this

AlphaGo2017

Traces the match between DeepMind's AI and world champion Lee Sedol with genuine suspense and philosophical weight. A perfect companion piece that shows AI capability through one transformative moment rather than abstractions.

But At 90 minutes it moves briskly; if you want deeper technical explanation of how it works, you'll leave wanting more.

AlphaGo poster

The Social Dilemma2020

Another documentary about powerful technology reshaping the world through the voices of its architects. Shares iHuman's approach of letting insiders explain what they built and what keeps them up at night.

But Focuses narrowly on social media algorithms rather than AI broadly. Some feel it prioritizes alarm over nuance.

The Social Dilemma poster

Coded Bias2020

Explores how AI systems inherit human prejudice, using clear examples and interviews with researchers. Asks the hard questions iHuman raises but from the perspective of those harmed by algorithmic bias.

But More advocacy documentary than pure exploration. If you want to sit with ambiguity, this presents conclusions more firmly than iHuman does.

Coded Bias poster

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Computer Chess2013

While iHuman asks what AI pioneers are thinking, Computer Chess *feels* what it's like to be inside their heads—the eccentricity, the single-mindedness, the way brilliance curdles into isolation.

A deliberately strange, black-and-white narrative film about chess programmers at a 1980s tournament, shot on obsolete video equipment. Captures the obsessive, slightly unhinged culture of AI research through fiction rather than talking heads.

But Deliberately weird and slow. If you want a straight documentary, this indie narrative film will feel oblique and frustrating. Low production values are intentional but take patience.

Computer Chess poster
More like this (3)

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World2016

Werner Herzog's meditation on the internet and connected systems has similar DNA—talking to visionaries about technology's trajectory, but with Herzog's philosophical melancholy and dark humour layered over it.

But Covers broader ground than just AI, and Herzog's baroque style won't appeal to everyone. Some find his voiceover overwrought.

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World poster

Particle Fever2013

A documentary about physicists at CERN chasing the Higgs boson, made with the same clear-eyed wonder iHuman brings to AI. Shows brilliant people wrestling with fundamental questions about reality.

But Physics isn't AI. If you want technology ethics specifically, you'll find yourself in a different conversation entirely.

Particle Fever poster

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room2005

A documentary about brilliant people who convinced everyone they had solved something they hadn't—a different kind of technology story about how charisma and narrative can outrun reality.

But Enron scandal, not AI. The parallel is structural rather than direct. Some will feel the connection is a stretch.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room poster

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Coded Bias