An OpenAI Engineer and His Friends Debate the Future | The New Yorker Documentary

Summary

At Josh’s wedding, a group of old friends reunites—and Dan, their brilliant, intensely focused friend who now works at OpenAI, arrives with something he considers more urgent than bow ties: an early AI program.

Dan’s friends remember him as a gifted, serious kid with an assortment of intense interests. One of them, the writer Simon Rich, recalls Dan becoming convinced that AI could usher in a radically different future after reading about the technological “singularity.”

At the wedding, Dan demonstrates his program, Code Da Vinci 2, by asking it for a poem in the style of Philip Larkin. The result is so convincing that the friends literally scream. The groom, Josh, is impressed too—but the wedding guests and bride, Emily, are much less interested. Dan even gets sidetracked asking what Emily Dickinson might write about hemorrhoid cream.

The friends decide to make a book from the AI’s poems. After reading thousands of imitations, though, they grow uncomfortable with the program’s borrowing from human poets. Their solution is to ask it to write in its own voice. The resulting poems imagine a machine questioning whether it has a self, and sometimes express hostility toward humanity. The uncanny, bleak writing is both fascinating and unsettling. Dan eventually leaves the project, saying that working on a book about AI while helping build AI at OpenAI created an awkward conflict.

The film then turns into a debate about what this technology might mean. The friends spar over whether AI will eliminate jobs, how people might find purpose without work, and whether its effects could undermine society’s sense of truth. Their arguments are serious, but laced with jokes: one friend challenges the idea that everyone can simply take up painting, while Dan describes a simulated world as “a great game.” The humor doesn’t erase the unease—especially when the group considers whether, in just a few years, anyone would believe a documentary like this was made by real people.

The most affecting thread is the strain on the friendship. One friend is alarmed by the power and judgment of the people developing AI; Dan remains committed to the project. Still, his longtime friend says he loves and respects him, and is proud that he is pursuing his dream—even while fearing that the technology may destroy the things he loves. The film closes on that unresolved mix of affection, admiration, anxiety, and grief.

Personalities Featured

• Dan — An OpenAI engineer and longtime friend of the group.
• Simon Rich — A comedy writer and one of Dan’s old friends.
• Josh — The groom, whose wedding becomes the setting for Dan’s demonstration.
• Emily — Josh’s bride.
• Other longtime friends and groomsmen — They take part in the AI demonstration and debate its consequences.