The Business A human conversation with the producers of ‘The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist’
Mar 20, 2026
Diane Becker, documentary producer (Navalny), and Ted Tremper, film producer (The Daily Show, Borat), discuss making The AI Doc. They share how they booked top AI leaders, nearly reached Elon Musk, and organized a massive, collaborative production. The conversation covers long-form interviews, balancing expert and general audiences, theatrical strategy, and the film’s apocaloptimist title choice.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
A Dozen Filmmakers Tackled AI Together
- The production became a large collective requiring two directors, five producers, multiple DPs and editors to cover AI's scope.
- Diane Becker called it one of the hardest films to produce, with teams sometimes 12 people working simultaneously.
Bucket Town Kept The Team Sane
- The team invented Bucket Town USA as a playful organizing system to avoid burnout and structure enormous AI research.
- They assigned roles like mayor and sheriff and used buckets to manage subject-matter complexity across many collaborators.
Texting Elon Backfired During Doge Chaos
- Ted Tremper tried direct outreach and even texted Elon Musk but the number had changed amid Doge-era turmoil.
- Tremper sent 90 emails to top ML people, got six replies, and a third party later indicated Elon would join before ghosting.