A list of top tech documentaries focusing on the impact of technology on society today and tomorrow´s world.
April 2021 20 minutes
Search Engine Breakdown
January 2020 90 minutes
Coded Bias
A disturbing documentary (Shalini Kantayya) on the impact of artificial intelligence on our liberties and the racial, class, gender biases of algorithms in facial-recognition software. Highly recommended viewing. Available on Netflix.
September 2020 1 hr 34 minutes
The Social Dilemma
A revealing documentary focusing on the dark side of social media, with explicit detail to what goes on behind our screens every time we log online. Interesting reflections from the people behind the design and development of social media platforms. Available on Netflix.
December 2019 50 minutes
Surveillance Capitalism
The term ´Surveillance Capitalism` was coined by Harvard professor, Shoshana Zuboff. In this documentary interview, she explains the fundamental logic of this concept and the relationship between surveillance technology and capitalism.
November 2019 1hr 54 minutes
In the Age of AI
FRONTLINE investigates the promise and perils of artificial intelligence, from fears about work and privacy to a tech dominance rivalry between the U.S. and China. The documentary traces a new industrial revolution that will reshape and disrupt our lives, our jobs and our world, and allow the emergence of the surveillance society. Free viewing on PBS.
November 2019 99 minutes
iHuman
iHuman (Tonje Hessen Schei) opens with the famous Stephen Hawking quote: “Success in creating [AI] would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last.” In other words, AI could potentially be the best thing ever to happen to humanity or the worst by creating (and then trying to control) something potentially more intelligent than ourselves. This bracing documentary raises some serious ethical questions surrounding the use of AI and explores the social and political implications, the opportunities and challenges it will bring and how it will shape the world of tomorrow.
January 2019 113 minutes
The Great Hack
What would happen if a company uses Big Data to manipulate people’s behaviour to achieve desired political outcomes? This documentary (Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaim) exposes the different stories of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and its work in shaping the political results of various countries including the UK´s Brexit campaign and the 2016 United States elections. Available on Netflix
June 2019 94 minutes
The World According to AI
A two part documentary, ´Targeted by an Algorithm` and ´Bias in the Machine`
July 16 1 hr 54 minutes
Snowdon (Oliver Stone)
The film of Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who copied and leaked highly classified information from the US National Security Agency beginning in 2013. What it wants — what Snowden himself always claims to have wanted — is to bother you, to fill you with doubt about the good intentions of those who gather your data and tell you it’s for your own protection. Available on Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV