The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist
- Grades: 9 to 11
- Common Sense Media: parents say 13+
- CS strength: 4 out of 5
- SEL strength: 3 out of 5
- Rotten Tomatoes: 86% critics
What happens
Filmmaker Daniel Roher is about to become a father. Anxious about the world his child will grow up in, he sets out to understand artificial intelligence. He interviews people who worry that it could go very wrong, people who are excited about what it could do, and leaders of AI companies including Sam Altman of OpenAI, Dario Amodei of Anthropic and Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind. The film covers deepfakes, data centers and the race to build more powerful AI, and it does not claim to have the answer.
Why we watch it
This is a recent documentary about the technology students use every day. It helps them see that there is a debate, that smart people disagree, and that the choices about AI are made by people. It is also good practice in media literacy: who is being interviewed, who declined to be, and who benefits from each answer. It is rated PG-13 (Common Sense Media says 13 and up), mainly for language and some frightening talk about worst-case outcomes. The worksheet has a computer science focus.
Teacher ideas (before the movie)
About 10 to 15 minutes. The film is a documentary about AI. The warm-ups get students thinking about their own opinions before they hear the experts, and set up the question of who is speaking. Do not ask students to share worries that feel personal.
- Show of fingers (2 minutes): Hold up 1 to 5 fingers: how excited are you about AI? Now how worried? Take one or two volunteers from each end to say why.
- Four corners (3 minutes): AI will mostly help / mostly harm / both about equally / I don’t know yet. Students stand in a corner, then one person in each explains. Ask them to remember their corner. You will ask whether the film changed it.
- What does the title mean? (2 minutes): Write apocaloptimist on the board. Break it into pieces: apocalypse and optimist. Ask what kind of person that could be.
- Real or fake? (3 minutes): Ask: have you seen a fake video, photo or voice? How could you tell? Take three answers. Write them on the board. Come back at “Real or Fake?”
- Who is in the room? (2 minutes): If you were making a film about AI, who would you want to interview? Who might not want to talk to you? Take guesses. Ask again at the end: who was in this film and who was not?
- Wheel of Names (2 minutes): paste in the class list and spin. “Name one thing you do with AI, or one thing you would not want AI to do.”
Standards alignment
Answer key and teacher notes
- B Why does the filmmaker, Daniel Roher, start asking questions about AI?
- A What does the word "apocaloptimist" in the title mean?
- A Which AI company leaders does the film interview?
- Which of these does the film talk about?
- How does the film end?
Answer key: Questions 1 to 3 come from the film’s published description and cast. Questions 4 and 5 are marked “(to check)”: the film’s own order and ending were taken from reviews, not from a scene-by-scene viewing, so check them when you preview it. Preview the film before showing it.
Teaching points by question:
- Both Sides: balanced answers name a specific benefit (medicine, learning, accessibility) and a specific harm (fakes, jobs, misuse). No right answer; look for reasons.
- Who Decides: an argued answer. Strong answers name more than one group (companies, governments, researchers, the public).
- Real or Fake: strong answers include checking the source, looking for the original, looking for other reports, and waiting before sharing.
- Handling Worry: observational. Do not ask students to share their own worries aloud.
CASEL focus: “Handling Worry” is Self-Management and Self-Awareness (naming and managing a strong feeling). “Real or Fake?” is Responsible Decision-Making (reasoned judgment). “Who Decides?” is Responsible Decision-Making (institutional impacts).
Media literacy talking points: Roher says Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg declined to be interviewed. Reviews are mixed. Some say it is a scary, useful introduction, and some say it tilts toward optimism and gives AI company leaders a lot of room. Ask students who they would want to hear from that is not in the film.
Content note: Rated PG-13. Common Sense Media recommends 13 and up. It has mild and bleeped profanity, frightening talk about AI causing human extinction, discussion of AI-linked suicide and self-harm, and images of people shopping for guns. No violence. Preview it and consider a short calm check-in afterward. Best for grades 9 to 11.