The Joy of AI

Professor Jim Al-Khalili looks at how we have created machines that can simulate, augment, and even outperform the human mind - and why we shouldn't let this spook us. He reveals the story of the pursuit of AI, the emergence of machine learning and the recent breakthroughs brought about by artificial neural networks. He shows how AI is not only changing our world but also challenging our very ideas of intelligence and consciousness. Along the way, we'll investigate spam filters, meet a cutting-edge chatbot, look at why a few altered pixels makes a computer think it's looking at a trombone rather than a dog and talk to Demis Hassabis, who heads DeepMind and whose stated mission is to 'solve intelligence, and then use that to solve everything else'. Stephen Hawking remarked 'AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilisation. Or the worst'. Jim argues that AI is a potent new tool that should enhance our lives, not replace us.

Tiger on the Rocks

The Tasmanian Tiger twists and turns depending on how it's seen. Sheep-killing beast or tragic victim of human induced extinction. Ancient painting on a rock or vivid ancestor spirit. Lost forever, or a timely reminder to respect the connection between human and animal, culture, nature and country. In stunning landscapes across Australia where Thylacines once roamed, people from wide-ranging traditions share their experiences: First Nations artists, rangers and custodians; biologists, bone hunters and archaeologists. Multiple insights combine to throw light on Australia's most wanted animal.

The Lost City

In the Aysén region dwell a population of 90000 isolated souls sharing the harsh landscapes of an area about the size of England. Here where beauty seems to be on first-name terms with fear and danger,in a place where the immensity of nature can never be dominated, the setting hesitates, along the expanses, between sparkling colours and the black and white of the snow and the water. The day-to-day images intermingle with a story of mythological aspect; that of the timeless quest for the Lost City of the Caesars, a city of gold built 500 years ago by the conquerors.

La Rivière

The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley

With a magical new invention that promised to revolutionize blood testing, Elizabeth Holmes became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, heralded as the next Steve Jobs. Then, overnight, her 10-billion-dollar company dissolved. The rise and fall of Theranos is a window into the psychology of fraud.

An Inconvenient Truth

A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.

Connected

Follow Barbara Dunkelman and Blaine Gibson as they must survive their work, their social lives and the modern world without the comfort of their cell phones in order to explore how our brains change with our use of technology and analyze how we sustain and build relationships in the 21st century.

City of Wax

City of Wax is a 1934 American short documentary film produced by Horace and Stacy Woodard about the life of a bee. It won the Oscar at the 7th Academy Awards in 1935 for Best Short Subject (Novelty). Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with the UCLA Film and Television Archive in 2007.

Machine of Human Dreams

A.I. guru Ben Goertzel grew up in a hippie community in Oregon during the Vietnam War. Inspired by science fiction, he imagined a perfect rational world that would transcend 1970s’ America. Ben has dedicated his life to developing OpenCog, a software that models the human mind. If Ben’s design works, OpenCog will become a human-like general intelligence. But for OpenCog to work, it needs a body.

Cyborgs: Human Machines

Over the past few years, technology has improved our lives in so many ways. Now, some people, called trans-humanists, are taking the next logical step - they are fusing their bodies with digital implants to increase their abilities and expand their senses - they are becoming, in effect, real life cyborgs. How is life going to change for us all if some people have supernatural powers?

Don't

The lyric passage of a Monarch butterfly, beginning with its birth, through its delicate metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly and on its journey from country to city. From the first frame, the audience experiences the tension of this perilous flight as numerous adversaries, threaten the butterfly's freedom. A lively sound track, with music composed by Frederic Chopin, allows us to live for a few moments in this fleeting world.

The End of the Game

An intimate view of the panorama of African wildlife, giving a sense of what it is really like to be there, and in a dramatic climax makes a poignant plea for conservation. Filmed in Zaire, Kenya and Tanzania, the film takes the viewer from deep inside an anthill, to the majestic giraffes suckling their young. African storms, dung beetle ritual dances, duels for supremacy, feeding time, and playtime all end as the animals disappear one by one while the sound of a rifle shatters the existing magic of life. Winner of the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject, 1976.

New Zealand 3D: The Forgotten Paradise

New Zealand is one of the most remote countries in the world. Owing to the great distance from continents and, as a result of intense volcanic activity, unique flora and fauna as well as extraordinary landscapes have developed in this island country. The settlement of humans over the centuries has naturally also had an influence on the landscape. This film is an invitation to travel across the diverse landscapes of New Zealand.

March of the Penguins 2: The Next Step

A young penguin, driven by his instinct, embarks on his first major trip to an unknown destination.

An Eye on You: Citizens Under Surveillance

Do any areas of our lives escape surveillance any more? Citizens of the 21st Century are the focus of prying eyes, whether they agree to it or not.

Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above

Documenting Taiwan from an aerial perspective offering a glimpse of Taiwan's natural beauty as well as the effect of human activities and urbanization on our environment.