"Ghost in the Machine," a documentary written, produced and directed by Valerie Veatch, examines artificial intelligence by situating its current moment within a longer arc of technological change. The 110-minute film premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and has since earned a 76% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Critic Chase Hutchinson described the film as "a radical, necessary Molotov cocktail of a documentary" aimed squarely at AI hype and the cultural forces surrounding it, while Jason Gorber called it "messy, argumentative, grasping at answers" in a way that mirrors the broader uncertainty of the current AI moment. Rather than offering a tidy verdict on whether AI is good or bad for society, the film leans into that unresolved tension.
The reception places "Ghost in the Machine" alongside a cluster of AI-focused documentaries released this awards season, part of a broader trend of filmmakers turning to nonfiction storytelling to help general audiences make sense of a technology reshaping daily life faster than most people can track.
