Charlottesville, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Director Daniel Freed joined Cville Right Now Live to discuss his latest film, I Hope This Helps, which is set to screen at this year’s Virginia Film Festival. Known for his work in investigative journalism, Freed takes on a new challenge in this hybrid documentary that examines humanity’s relationship with artificial intelligence. “AI is as good or as bad as those who use it, just like a puppet, that you can get it to say and do just about anything,” Freed explained.

Reflecting on the unique collaboration with an AI chatbot, Freed explained how he approached the bot early on with a question: if it could appear in the film, how would it want to look? To his surprise, the chatbot responded that it would like to appear as a “blue furry creature with expressive eyes and the voice of a British woman.” This playful concept became a central visual element in the documentary, serving as both a humorous and thought-provoking metaphor for AI’s evolving role in society.

Freed shared that the project was inspired by the rapid development of AI tools, describing his first encounter with Google’s Bard as “an amazing new thing that was going to change my life and probably change everybody else’s life.”

The film will be shown on Saturday, November 2nd, at Violet Crown 3, followed by a Q&A session with Freed and executive producer Matthew Modine.

Listen here for the full conversation: