The AI Doc Breakdown: Filmmaking in the Age of Uncertainty
“I don't feel like AI is the big bad. To me, the people are the big bad.”
'The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist'
In this episode of the No Film School Podcast, host GG Hawkins speaks with director Charlie Tyrell and editors Davis Coombe and Daysha Broadway about The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist.
The conversation explores how the team shaped an essay-driven documentary around AI, parenting, authorship, and uncertainty, while also breaking down the collaborative editorial process. They also touch on the ethics of making a film in real time about a rapidly changing subject, and the analog craft choices that gave the project its tactile visual identity.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist uses a filmmaker’s journey into impending parenthood as a narrative device for exploring AI anxiety and optimism
- Why the team chose an essay-documentary structure while still grounding the film in Daniel Roher’s on-camera perspective
- The challenges of shaping a documentary whose subject kept changing during production as AI news evolved in real time
- How Charlie Tyrell, Davis Coombe, and Daysha Broadway each found their way into filmmaking and documentary storytelling
- The creative and ethical complications of having a co-director also function as a subject within the film
- How the filmmakers balanced accessibility, complexity, and emotional honesty while making a movie about a massive technological shift
- The editorial collaboration behind the film, including remote workflows, shared creative decision-making, and leaving ego at the door
- Why the team intentionally avoided using AI in the film’s creative workflow
- How Premiere Pro Productions, transcription tools, Blender, After Effects, Dragonframe, stop-motion builds, and practical effects supported the film’s handmade aesthetic
- Where the guests currently land on the spectrum between AI optimism and AI anxiety as working filmmakers and editors
- Why the guests believe the biggest question is not just what AI can do, but how people choose to use it
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