What if China became the new Saudi Arabia—not for oil, but for data?
This doc starts with Google’s AlphaGo humiliating a national hero and ends with face-scanning KFC payments, driverless trucks and a creeping digital surveillance state.
“In the Age of AI” is from November 2019 but it’s amazingly prescient about the future.
I think it’s the second best AI documentary (I rank “AlphaGo” #1).
Trailer for “In the Age of AI”
Watch “In the Age of AI”
You can watch “In the Age of AI” for free on YouTube here:
You can also stream it on PBS here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/in-the-age-of-ai/
Director’s Note: Neil Docherty and David Fanning directed this 113-minute doc. Neil Docherty is known for “The Persuaders,” “Flying Cheap,” and “Putin’s Way.” David Fanning founded Frontline and is known for “Bush’s War,” “The Age of AIDS,” “Ghosts of Rwanda,” and “The Facebook Dilemma.”
You Can’t Make This Sh*t Up
- In just eight seconds, a Chinese AI loan system can process 5,000 personal features from your data to decide if you qualify for a loan. It’s discovered that people with low phone battery levels are statistically worse credit risks.
- Facebook conducted secret “social contagion” experiments on 61 million users, manipulating their news feeds to make them happy or sad and claimed to have nudged 340,000 people to vote in the 2010 midterm elections without them even knowing they were being manipulated.
Release Date: November 5, 2019. First aired on PBS Frontline.
My Review of “In the Age of AI”
The Setup
The Setup — “In the Age of AI” begins with the historic 2016 battle between Google’s AlphaGo AI and world Go champion Lee Sedol in South Korea. This moment—when AI defeated a human at one of history’s most complex games—serves as the documentary’s launching point to explore how artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming our economy, privacy, democracy, and the global balance of power between the US and China.
The Five Stories
The documentary tells 5 stories:
- China’s AI Plan – After AlphaGo beat a top player, China made a bold goal: be the world’s #1 in AI by 2030. The government poured money into new tech companies like Megvii (face scanning) and Momenta (self-driving cars).
- AI in Medicine – MIT professor Regina Barzilay had breast cancer. She used her experience to help build AI tools that spot cancer earlier than doctors can.
- AI and Jobs – AI could take over lots of jobs. Self-driving trucks could replace 3.5 million U.S. drivers. Even office workers are at risk. Experts say half of all jobs could be gone in 15 years.
- Big Tech and Your Data – Companies like Google and Facebook make money by watching what you do online. Harvard’s Shoshana Zuboff says this hurts privacy—and maybe democracy too.
- AI and Control – In China’s Xinjiang region, the government uses AI to track Uyghur Muslims. Face scanners and smart cameras know where people go. These tools are spreading to other countries through China’s Belt and Road plan.
More Highlights from the Doc
- The doc says China’s “Sputnik moment” came when Google’s AlphaGo beat Go champion Lee Sedol. After that loss, President Xi Jinping set a goal: catch up with the U.S. in AI by 2025 and lead the world by 2030.
- China is building a city the size of Chicago made just for self-driving cars. The roads and buildings will have sensors to help the cars drive safely.
- Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, former head of Google China, calls China “the Saudi Arabia of data.” With 1.4 billion people, it collects about 10 times more user data than the U.S.
- In Xinjiang, China uses a huge AI system to watch the Uyghur people. The film shows face scans, prediction tools, and an estimated 600 million cameras being used to track citizens.
- Truck driver Shawn Cumbee makes about $22,000 a year after expenses. He says, “I ain’t really worried about the automation of trucks.” But 24-year-old Alex Rodrigues has already built a self-driving truck company, with test runs on Interstate 10.
Cameos
The documentary features interviews with numerous tech and AI authorities, including Microsoft President Brad Smith, AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio, NYU professor Amy Webb, Harvard professor Shoshana Zuboff, early Facebook investor Roger McNamee, and Chinese AI investor Kai-Fu Lee.
There’s also footage of tech luminaries like Jeff Bezos, Jony Ive, and Mark Zuckerberg speaking at various events.
Lesser-Known Details from the Doc
- The documentary reveals that economists estimate only about 20% of American manufacturing job losses are due to offshoring, while 80% are actually the result of automation and productivity increases—contradicting common political narratives.
- Kai-Fu Lee predicts that approximately 50% of all jobs will be “somewhat or extremely threatened by AI” within the next 15 years, with white-collar analytical jobs (like financial analysts and customer service) being easier to automate than many blue-collar positions.
- Alastair Mactaggart, a real estate developer with no tech background, spent $4 million of his own money fighting for California’s consumer privacy law after a Google engineer casually told him at a cocktail party, “You’d be horrified if you knew how much we knew about you.”
- The film reveals that women disproportionately hold jobs at highest risk of AI automation, including cashiers, clerical workers, and administrative positions—a gender aspect of AI disruption rarely discussed in mainstream coverage.
- Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin initially opposed advertising, believing it would corrupt search results. Only after the dot-com crash did they reluctantly adopt the surveillance advertising model that now dominates the internet.
Wrap Up
Wrap Up — “In the Age of AI” is the most comprehensive documentary I’ve seen on how artificial intelligence is reshaping power structures globally, from job markets to geopolitics.
Thanks for reading!
Rob Kelly, Chief Maniac, Daily Doc