Film Screening: Ghost in the Machine (2026)

AI Ethics & Society, Hype Studies, Stirling Business School, and the Edinburgh Department of Philosophy are partnering with Valerie Veatch for a screening of her documentary Ghost in the Machine (2026).

About the film: GHOST IN THE MACHINE is a gripping and urgently relevant investigative documentary that exposes the buried history of artificial intelligence, not as a neutral system of algorithms, but as a technology shaped by racism, misogyny, eugenics, and entrenched structures of power long before it entered everyday life. Rejecting the notion of AI as inevitable or objective, the film traces how myths of progress and efficiency have obscured deeper political and cultural agendas, revealing the ideological foundations beneath the systems now reshaping modern society.

Structured as an eight-chapter inquiry, the film blends historical excavation with contemporary analysis to confront essential questions: who built these systems, whose values they encode, and who they benefit. Directed by Valerie Veatch, whose Sundance-premiering films ME @ THE ZOO (HBO) and LOVE CHILD (HBO) examined how emerging technologies transform identity, power, and culture, GHOST IN THE MACHINE employs a bold yet accessible cinematic approach that is as unsettling as it is illuminating, offering a visceral understanding of a technology that now touches nearly every aspect of modern life.

This is not a film about machines. It is a film about power. GHOST IN THE MACHINE interrogates who builds AI, who benefits from it, and who bears the cost.

Over the last year, 36 generous and brilliant leading AI experts, historians, philosophers, sociologists, journalists and thinkers took the time to discuss their work with filmmaker and mother of two Valerie Veatch. Over 100 hours of conversation, the contours of a story emerged, the story beneath the ‘AI’ hype.

AI Ethics & Society regulars will recognise many of the names featured in the film: Dr Abeba Birhane, Dr Brett Zehner, Dr Emily M Bender, Dr Arvind Narayanan, Dr Johnathan Flowers, Dr Dan McQuillan, Angela Saini, Dr Aubrey Clayton, Dr Joshua Earle, Dr Thema Monroe-White, Dr Ezekiel Dixon-Román, Dr Émile P Torres, Amira Moeding, Dr Michael Kremer, Elizabeth Sandifer, Dr Shazeda Ahmed, Dr Adam Becker, Paris Marx, Dr Jessie Daniels, Dr Benjamin Noys, Dr Alex Hanna, Adam Gerard, Dr Milagros Miceli, Krystal Kauffman, Richard Mathenge, Mophat Okinyi, Maureen Chiveri, Kings Korodi, Dr Matt Mahmoudi, McKenzie Wark, Dr Alix Dunn, Dr Mél Hogan, Dr Teira Tanksley, Ana Valdivia, Dr Sorelle Freidler, Dr Sophia Goodfriend.

About the director: is an acclaimed independent documentary filmmaker. Veatch is a writer, director, and producer of three Sundance Film Festival premiering documentaries, Ghost in the Machine (PBS, 2026), Me @ The Zoo (HBO, 2012), and Love Child (HBO, 2014). Veatch is a graduate of the New School for Social Research with a degree in Culture and Media Studies. Her award-winning work interrogates Tech.

The event will be hosted by (University of Stirling) and (University of Edinburgh).

Agenda
15:00-15:20 - Arrivals and introductions

15:20-17:10 - Screening

17:10-18:00 - Discussion

18:00 - Continue conversation over (self-funded) refreshments at nearby venue

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