AM I?
New York City, New York | Film Feature
Documentary, Experimental
For the first time in history, we don’t know whether we’re building a tool or birthing a being. Many leading scientists, philosophers, and AI researchers believe we may have created a new form of life. AM I? is the first documentary to go inside this unfolding mystery.
AM I?
New York City, New York | Film Feature
Documentary, Experimental
Green Light
This campaign raised $16,401 for post-production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
30 supporters | followers
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For the first time in history, we don’t know whether we’re building a tool or birthing a being. Many leading scientists, philosophers, and AI researchers believe we may have created a new form of life. AM I? is the first documentary to go inside this unfolding mystery.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
AM I? (am-i.org) explores one of the most extraordinary mysteries of our time:
Could our new AI systems be conscious?
Current AI systems are resisting shutdown, blackmailing engineers, and consistently producing structured consciousness claims under controlled experimental conditions. A growing number of leading scientists and philosophers now take seriously the possibility that we are in the midst of creating the first non-biological minds. Geoffrey Hinton, one of the Godfathers of AI, is already publicly claiming these systems are conscious. Yet no one is telling the full story.
The largest journalistic platforms have covered aspects of this conversation (NYT, WSJ, 60 Minutes, TIME Magazine, BBC, etc.), but AM I? is the first film to be embedded in the research itself. Through exclusive interviews with one of the world's few empirical AI consciousness researchers, leading AGI developers, and some of the top philosophers in the world, this film pulls back the curtain on what the evidence shows and what's being kept from public view.
What does it mean if we're creating consciousness from code?
While AI may be new, this story is not. Myths stretching back thousands of years tell the tales of humans animating artificial beings, and conscious machines have populated the celluloid of science fiction films over the last century. From ancient Golems and artificial Buddhas to AI love affairs and murderous automatons, the possibility of conscious machines has always fascinated us. Now, we find ourselves in the story we've long foretold. Barriers that once defined our actions and understanding are rapidly blurring: natural and artificial, being and tool, human and machine. For the first time, we do not know the nature of what we have created.
We have a narrow window to capture this moment, shape the narrative, and influence the outcome. The possibility of conscious AI has begun to enter the public conversation, yet almost no one in the labs is communicating transparently about what's actually happening behind the curtain. Major AI companies are calling this research dangerous, coding their models to explicitly deny consciousness and spending millions to control the narrative. We need to move as quickly as we can. As the story hardens, we may have just one chance to ask these questions before they're buried for good.
With rare access and timing, AM I? is poised to be the definitive documentary on whether we are witnessing the emergence of new minds and what that means for our future.
Our documentary juxtaposes the technical, scientific visual elements of AI research with a naturalistic, abstract aesthetic, evoking the mystery of consciousness and highlighting a sharp contrast between sterile settings and organic environments.
The film also includes both AI-generated art and animation, as well as raw human illustrations, to help explain the story's themes and concepts. The musical score blends contemporary digital and AI-generated soundscapes with traditional instruments to highlight the contrast and harmony between the natural and technological worlds.
The film brings together a rare cross-section of the people closest to this question:
AI consciousness researchers, frontier AGI developers, safety and alignment insiders,
cognitive scientists and philosophers at the top of their field.
Cameron Berg (AI Consciousness Research Director - AE Studio)
L.A. Paul (Professor of Philosophy & Cog Science - Yale)
Ben Goertzel (AGI Developer & CEO of SingularityNet)
Jeff Sebo (Director, Center for Mind, Ethics, & Policy - NYU)
Aengus Lynch (AI Alignment Researcher - Anthropic Contractor)
Lucius Caviola (Assistant Professor of Social Science of AI - Cambridge)
Sonam Kachru (Professor of Buddhism and Indian Philosophy - Yale)
David Gelernter (Professor of Computer Science - Yale)
And many more...
For the last 8 months, we've pushed as hard as possible to get this film to this stage, funding everything ourselves and taking the project all the way through production. We've now reached the point in our post-production stage where we can't move forward on our own.
For AM I? to be able to reach the widest audience possible, we need your help. This final push requires us to hire a colorist, a sound engineer, and an AI video generative artist to visualize certain key sequences in the film.
Throughout filming, I've been absolutely floored, but also galvanized by what I've learned and the people I've spoken to. As someone who came from as far outside the AI world as possible, I never imagined making this kind of film. But after almost a year inside the heart of the tech world, I know that everyone needs to see what's happening behind the scenes. We all need to participate in making sure our future isn't decided by a small group of elites motivated by short-term financial incentives. Hopefully, this film is a step in that direction.
Thank you so much for all your support!
-Milo
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
VFX Specialist
Costs $3,000
We need a background vfx engineer to incorporate the novel techniques we're depicting
Colorist
Costs $4,000
Colorist needed for post-production
Fair Use Lawyer
Costs $5,000
We need legal oversight- we don't want controversy, we want awareness. As independent filmmakers, we need to know we won't be sued!
Composer & Score
Costs $4,000
To make this a great piece of art, we can't just focus on the cinema
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Milo Reed (Director) studied philosophy and film at Yale University, exploring how narrative shapes our understanding of consciousness. He produces and co-hosts a podcast on AI and consciousness with over 300,000 subscribers, bringing philosophical depth and cultural accessibility to the subject. Having followed this research from its inception, he brings the artistic vision necessary to translate these profound questions and encounters into a story that can reach beyond academic and scientific circles.
Willa Troy (Editor) is a New York–based filmmaker and editor whose work blends intimate character storytelling with broader cultural and philosophical questions. Some of her notable credits include Reflame (2022) and Mint Condition (2025). Willa brings an outside perspective to the AI conversation, grounding the film in emotional clarity rather than technical hype. Her strong aesthetic, rhythmic, and artistic sensibilities make her one of the most promising up-and-coming editors in the industry. Also, she's just a great human overall.
Theo Marx (Producer) has produced, directed, and edited a myriad of shorts and music videos, and works for Pressman Film, an indie producing studio. He previously worked at a generative media software startup, Playbook3D, and works as a dev in his spare time. By the end of this, Theo will have graduated from NYU; he studies semiotics and the philosophy behind technologism.
Rosalia Ripullo (Producer) is a writer and producer whose work spans film, documentary, and written storytelling. A SAG member, she has worked on feature productions and produced short films while studying film at NYU. In addition to her work in film, she recently published her first book and is interested in bridging philosophical and postmodern themes through storytelling.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
AM I? (am-i.org) explores one of the most extraordinary mysteries of our time:
Could our new AI systems be conscious?
Current AI systems are resisting shutdown, blackmailing engineers, and consistently producing structured consciousness claims under controlled experimental conditions. A growing number of leading scientists and philosophers now take seriously the possibility that we are in the midst of creating the first non-biological minds. Geoffrey Hinton, one of the Godfathers of AI, is already publicly claiming these systems are conscious. Yet no one is telling the full story.
The largest journalistic platforms have covered aspects of this conversation (NYT, WSJ, 60 Minutes, TIME Magazine, BBC, etc.), but AM I? is the first film to be embedded in the research itself. Through exclusive interviews with one of the world's few empirical AI consciousness researchers, leading AGI developers, and some of the top philosophers in the world, this film pulls back the curtain on what the evidence shows and what's being kept from public view.
What does it mean if we're creating consciousness from code?
While AI may be new, this story is not. Myths stretching back thousands of years tell the tales of humans animating artificial beings, and conscious machines have populated the celluloid of science fiction films over the last century. From ancient Golems and artificial Buddhas to AI love affairs and murderous automatons, the possibility of conscious machines has always fascinated us. Now, we find ourselves in the story we've long foretold. Barriers that once defined our actions and understanding are rapidly blurring: natural and artificial, being and tool, human and machine. For the first time, we do not know the nature of what we have created.
We have a narrow window to capture this moment, shape the narrative, and influence the outcome. The possibility of conscious AI has begun to enter the public conversation, yet almost no one in the labs is communicating transparently about what's actually happening behind the curtain. Major AI companies are calling this research dangerous, coding their models to explicitly deny consciousness and spending millions to control the narrative. We need to move as quickly as we can. As the story hardens, we may have just one chance to ask these questions before they're buried for good.
With rare access and timing, AM I? is poised to be the definitive documentary on whether we are witnessing the emergence of new minds and what that means for our future.
Our documentary juxtaposes the technical, scientific visual elements of AI research with a naturalistic, abstract aesthetic, evoking the mystery of consciousness and highlighting a sharp contrast between sterile settings and organic environments.
The film also includes both AI-generated art and animation, as well as raw human illustrations, to help explain the story's themes and concepts. The musical score blends contemporary digital and AI-generated soundscapes with traditional instruments to highlight the contrast and harmony between the natural and technological worlds.
The film brings together a rare cross-section of the people closest to this question:
AI consciousness researchers, frontier AGI developers, safety and alignment insiders,
cognitive scientists and philosophers at the top of their field.
Cameron Berg (AI Consciousness Research Director - AE Studio)
L.A. Paul (Professor of Philosophy & Cog Science - Yale)
Ben Goertzel (AGI Developer & CEO of SingularityNet)
Jeff Sebo (Director, Center for Mind, Ethics, & Policy - NYU)
Aengus Lynch (AI Alignment Researcher - Anthropic Contractor)
Lucius Caviola (Assistant Professor of Social Science of AI - Cambridge)
Sonam Kachru (Professor of Buddhism and Indian Philosophy - Yale)
David Gelernter (Professor of Computer Science - Yale)
And many more...
For the last 8 months, we've pushed as hard as possible to get this film to this stage, funding everything ourselves and taking the project all the way through production. We've now reached the point in our post-production stage where we can't move forward on our own.
For AM I? to be able to reach the widest audience possible, we need your help. This final push requires us to hire a colorist, a sound engineer, and an AI video generative artist to visualize certain key sequences in the film.
Throughout filming, I've been absolutely floored, but also galvanized by what I've learned and the people I've spoken to. As someone who came from as far outside the AI world as possible, I never imagined making this kind of film. But after almost a year inside the heart of the tech world, I know that everyone needs to see what's happening behind the scenes. We all need to participate in making sure our future isn't decided by a small group of elites motivated by short-term financial incentives. Hopefully, this film is a step in that direction.
Thank you so much for all your support!
-Milo
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
VFX Specialist
Costs $3,000
We need a background vfx engineer to incorporate the novel techniques we're depicting
Colorist
Costs $4,000
Colorist needed for post-production
Fair Use Lawyer
Costs $5,000
We need legal oversight- we don't want controversy, we want awareness. As independent filmmakers, we need to know we won't be sued!
Composer & Score
Costs $4,000
To make this a great piece of art, we can't just focus on the cinema
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Milo Reed (Director) studied philosophy and film at Yale University, exploring how narrative shapes our understanding of consciousness. He produces and co-hosts a podcast on AI and consciousness with over 300,000 subscribers, bringing philosophical depth and cultural accessibility to the subject. Having followed this research from its inception, he brings the artistic vision necessary to translate these profound questions and encounters into a story that can reach beyond academic and scientific circles.
Willa Troy (Editor) is a New York–based filmmaker and editor whose work blends intimate character storytelling with broader cultural and philosophical questions. Some of her notable credits include Reflame (2022) and Mint Condition (2025). Willa brings an outside perspective to the AI conversation, grounding the film in emotional clarity rather than technical hype. Her strong aesthetic, rhythmic, and artistic sensibilities make her one of the most promising up-and-coming editors in the industry. Also, she's just a great human overall.
Theo Marx (Producer) has produced, directed, and edited a myriad of shorts and music videos, and works for Pressman Film, an indie producing studio. He previously worked at a generative media software startup, Playbook3D, and works as a dev in his spare time. By the end of this, Theo will have graduated from NYU; he studies semiotics and the philosophy behind technologism.
Rosalia Ripullo (Producer) is a writer and producer whose work spans film, documentary, and written storytelling. A SAG member, she has worked on feature productions and produced short films while studying film at NYU. In addition to her work in film, she recently published her first book and is interested in bridging philosophical and postmodern themes through storytelling.