podcast interview with the CEO of Zoom, the video meeting app<\/a>. In the interview, the CEO of Zoom talked about how thanks to A.I in the future we will be able to send A.I avatars of ourselves to meetings we don\u2019t want to go to and the A.I can have the meeting for us and then summarize the meeting so we can all sit on the beach.<\/p>\nHe said this. Out loud. Into a microphone. And he didn\u2019t stop to think how silly that sounded. He\u2019s the CEO of a large company and he thinks that A.I is going to hold meetings and that employees won\u2019t have to be there at all\u2014the A.I can just summarize it all for them. Angela, seeming almost embarrassed, points out the many flaws of this idea. One of the simplest is that we don\u2019t need A.I avatars to have in person meetings.<\/p>\n
A.I avatars aren\u2019t necessary. Not to mention, such avatars would require a massive new infrastructure that doesn\u2019t currently exist. Servers that would need to hold the avatars, laws or guidelines as to who owns the avatar\u2014the employee? The employer? If the avatar can do everything the employee can do then why would a company pay an employee?<\/p>\n
But, the simplest and most devastating point to this discussion is that A.I doesn\u2019t need avatars. If two A.I \u201cavatars\u201d were to have a meeting they don\u2019t need a physical space, they don\u2019t need to see each other. A meeting between two A.I versions of real people is non-existent. It would happen in seconds and the summary would arrive in seconds and there would be no meeting\u2014A.I would simply take the available data contributed by both sides, summarize, and draw conclusions.<\/p>\n
Of course, if A.I could do that\u2014and we assume A.I is somehow correct\u2014then what would you need an employee to do? Why would you pay a person for a job that A.I is doing without them? This plan makes no sense and yet, the CEO of Zoom sees this as the potential future of his company and of A.I.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69ca9c440552c3001daa06b1.jpg\")
Amanda Collier <\/p>\n
Selling Solutions to Problems That Don\u2019t Exist<\/p>\n
So, the podcaster asked another basic question: is Zoom developing the A.I avatar technology? No, the technology doesn\u2019t currently exist. But it will. It\u2019s \u201cdown the stack.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDown the stack\u201d is a fun little term that A.I bros like to use to say that someone is working on that and when they crack it, we will have it and it will be a game changer.<\/p>\n
If someone tells you that something is \u201cdown the stack\u201d they are basically saying that thing doesn\u2019t exist but we hope it will at some point\u2014and we\u2019re already planning to have it.<\/p>\n
Collier points to a current Zoom product promising Post-Quantum Encryption. When asked what that was, Zoom doesn\u2019t actually know. It\u2019s basically saying that one day in the future, Zoom will secure data against post-quantum computer hacks.<\/p>\n
But we\u2019re not in a post-quantum world. These problems\u2014and their solutions\u2014don\u2019t exist. Zoom is essentially trying to sell you insurance for a hypothetical future.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69ca9c440552c3001daa06b2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
A Documentary Built on Hypotheticals<\/p>\n
This is a long preamble to take me into The A.I. Doc or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, Daniel Roher\u2019s quite sad and unfortunate attempt to reckon with A.I by having a bunch of people with deeply vested interests in A.I tell him about what A.I will do in the future\u2014that it hasn\u2019t done yet\u2014but might.<\/p>\n
The documentary is basically the feature-length equivalent of \u201cdown the stack.\u201d<\/p>\n
Take climate change. A.I purveyors say A.I is going to solve it. The environmental damage A.I currently causes will eventually be mitigated\u2026 by A.I itself.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s interesting. So how?<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t know. It\u2019s down the stack.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69ca9c440552c3001daa06b3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cMalicious Optimism\u201d and the Missing Infrastructure<\/p>\n
Collier refers to this mentality as \u201cMalicious Optimism.\u201d The idea that A.I is inherently good and will eventually justify itself if we just wait long enough.<\/p>\n
A.I is going to cure diseases. Great\u2014who\u2019s building the infrastructure to manufacture and distribute those cures? Who tests them? Who pays for them?<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t worry\u2014it\u2019s down the stack.<\/p>\n
A.I will solve housing and hunger. Wonderful\u2014who builds the homes? Who distributes the food? What role do governments, regulators, and corporations play?<\/p>\n
Again\u2014it\u2019s down the stack.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69ca9c440552c3001daa06b4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The Billionaire Perspective Problem<\/p>\n
Roher\u2019s film ultimately becomes less about A.I and more about reassurance. He wants to know if it\u2019s okay to bring a child into this A.I-driven future.<\/p>\n
He finds comfort in the fact that Sam Altman is becoming a father.<\/p>\n
This is framed as hopeful, but it ignores a crucial truth: billionaires can insulate themselves from the consequences of the systems they help build. Their children will be fine regardless of how the rest of the world fares.<\/p>\n
Roher acknowledges skepticism\u2014especially from his wife, the film\u2019s narrator\u2014but never meaningfully wrestles with it.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69ca9c440552c3001daa06b5.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
A.I Isn\u2019t the Solution\u2014People Are<\/p>\n
That’s the alleged thesis of The A.I Doc, people are the solution to the future of A.I. We have to demand that A.I is good. That’s a lovely sentiment, but it’s a platitude at best. <\/p>\n
A.I doesn\u2019t implement anything.<\/p>\n
It can generate ideas, but people have to build, fund, regulate, and execute those ideas in the real world.<\/p>\n
A.I can\u2019t perform surgery.<\/p>\n
A.I can\u2019t hand you a glass of water.<\/p>\n
A.I doesn\u2019t build infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Even if A.I \u201csolves\u201d climate change, someone still has to turn that solution into reality.<\/p>\n
And that someone is usually a corporation or billionaire whose incentives are driven by profit\u2014not global well-being.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69ca9c440552c3001daa06b6.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Final Thoughts: A Conversation That Never Gets Real<\/p>\n
I admire Daniel Roher\u2019s desire to wrestle with A.I and its potential effects on humanity, but I can\u2019t honestly say he adds anything meaningful to the discourse.<\/p>\n
He allows stakeholders\u2014whether optimistic or apocalyptic\u2014to present their views without interrogating the self-interest behind them.<\/p>\n
The result is a documentary that talks endlessly about the future while avoiding the present realities that would make that future possible.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not insight.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just\u2026 down the stack.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69ca9c440552c3001daa06b7.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Keywords \/ Tags<\/p>\n
\t\u2022\tThe A.I. Doc review<\/p>\n
\t\u2022\tHow I Became an Apocaloptimist review<\/p>\n
\t\u2022\tAI documentary 2026<\/p>\n
\t\u2022\tDaniel Roher documentary review<\/p>\n
\t\u2022\tartificial intelligence criticism<\/p>\n
\t\u2022\ttech industry analysis<\/p>\n
\t\u2022\tAI and climate change<\/p>\n
\t\u2022\tSam Altman documentary<\/p>\n
\t\u2022\tAI ethics and future<\/p>\n
\t\u2022\ttech optimism critique<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Title: The A.I. Doc or How I Became an Apocaloptimist Directed by: Daniel Roher, Charlie Tyrell Written by:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[152],"tags":[5653,594,5651,586,5647,5648,5655,5652,738,5650,426,5649,5654,735],"class_list":["post-5182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dario-amodei","tag-a","tag-ai","tag-and","tag-dario-amodei","tag-doc","tag-down","tag-future","tag-illusion","tag-of","tag-optimism","tag-review","tag-stack","tag-techsaved","tag-the"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116337291000291381","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n