Age of AI Video Reaction

Watching PBS’s “In the Age of AI” documentary in class left me fascinated and uneasy about our technological future. What struck me most was how accurately the 2019 documentary predicted the AI landscape we’re navigating today in 2025. 

As a political science major, I couldn’t help but analyze the power dynamics unfolding between the US and China in what the film dubbed “the race to become an AI superpower.”

The second half of the documentary opened with AlphaGo defeating Lee Sedol, the world champion, at the ancient game of Go. This wasn’t just about a computer winning a board game—it represented a pivotal moment when AI demonstrated it could think creatively and strategically in ways humans hadn’t considered before. 

What frightens me most is how AI is being weaponized for surveillance and social control. The segment on China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang was particularly disturbing. 

A Uyghur man works at his shop
in Kashgar in the Xinjiang region.

The documentary showed how the Chinese government deployed vast surveillance networks with facial recognition to monitor an entire ethnic population. As a Black woman in America, I can’t help but draw parallels to how surveillance technologies have historically been used against marginalized communities here.

Last summer, I interned at PFCF
 & Summer Reading Stations.

The economic implications are equally concerning. The documentary highlighted how primarily AI-driven automation has already eliminated manufacturing jobs across America’s Midwest. One economist in the film noted that automation, not offshoring, was responsible for about 80% of job losses. 

This resonates with what I’ve observed in my own community. Growing up in a neighborhood where many families relied on manufacturing jobs, I’ve witnessed firsthand how automation has gradually displaced workers. Last summer, during my internship with the non-profit my sister works for, Partners for Children and Families of Moore County, NC, I spoke with numerous families struggling to adapt to this new economy where their skills were suddenly obsolete.

Privacy feels like a luxury we’ve surrendered without fully understanding the consequences. Shoshana Zuboff’s concept of “surveillance capitalism” resonated deeply with me. Every click, search, and interaction online becomes what she calls “behavioral surplus”—data that predicts our future behavior. 

As someone who studies political systems, I’m troubled by how this undermines democratic participation when our data can be used to manipulate public opinion, as we saw with Cambridge Analytica.

What surprised me was learning about Alastair MacTaggart’s campaign in California to regulate data privacy. His story gives me hope that ordinary citizens can push back against trillion-dollar tech companies. 

His privacy initiative eventually led to the California Consumer Privacy Act, proving that democratic processes can still function as checks on corporate power.

The documentary presents two diverging visions of AI’s future: China’s model of state control versus America’s market-driven approach. Both have serious flaws. The Chinese model enables unprecedented state surveillance, while the American model has created vast wealth inequality and undermines privacy for profit. 

As a political science student who spent time at the Naval Academy before receiving a medical honorable discharge, I'm particularly receptive to how this technological race impacts national security.

My brief time at Annapolis gave me unique insight into how defense strategists view AI as both opportunity and threat. The documentary highlighted China’s Belt and Road Initiative spreading their surveillance technology globally, creating what one expert called a “bamboo curtain” of digital infrastructure across developing nations. 

What keeps me up at night is how AI could transform warfare itself. Autonomous weapons systems, cyberattacks enhanced by machine learning, and disinformation campaigns powered by deepfakes all represent threats to national security that we're only beginning to understand. 

Though my military career was cut short for medical reasons, that experience taught me that technological superiority has always been America's military advantage—but for the first time, we're at risk of losing that edge.

Despite these concerns, I see tremendous positive potential in AI. It could revolutionize healthcare, help us address climate change, and make education more accessible. The documentary mentioned how AI could free us from routine work and “push us to do what we love.”