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It’s no secret that artificial intelligence is one of the most contentious topics in Hollywood today. Earlier this year, Oscar frontrunner “The Brutalist” came under fire for the use of AI voice enhancement. Two years ago, the American Actors’ Union SAG-AFTRA went on strike, with AI at the forefront of their grievances.

From awards-season outrage to parodies in Seth Rogen’s “The Studio,” AI has become a looming presence in Tinseltown. Yet while Hollywood debates which new Golden Age actor should be digitally resurrected next, filmmaker Greg Kohs has spent years asking an empathetic, more human question: What can AI teach us about ourselves?

Best known for his 2017 documentary “AlphaGo,” Kohs didn’t just chronicle a machine’s triumph over one of the world’s greatest Go players. He captured something rarer: a human being grappling, in real time, with the existential weight of losing to an artificial mind.

For context, “AlphaGo” follows South Korean grandmaster Lee Sedol as he faces off against DeepMind’s AI, but what begins as a technological showcase unfolds into something far more intimate — a portrait of frustration, awe, and grace.

Kohs described empathy as “the lead” of all his films. From “Song Sung Blue” (2008), about the couple behind a Neil Diamond tribute band, to “The Great Alone” (2015), a portrait of Iditarod champion Lance Mackey, Kohs is drawn to humanity and perseverance.

Kohs’ fascination with emotion began at an early age. As a child, he stayed up to watch the Olympics highlight reels, entranced by the slow-motion footage paired with swelling orchestral scores.

“I got goosebumps,” Kohs said in an interview with The Crimson. “I was like, ‘That’s what I want to do. I want to make that.’”

After graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in American Studies, he joined NFL Films, where founder Steve Sabol hired him after Kohs told him his goal: making goosebumps.

Those 10 years — which he describes as his “PhD in filmmaking” — shaped his artistic philosophy. At NFL Films, he was nicknamed “weasel” for his ability to find shots that no one else noticed: a crestfallen player, an excited fan, the jet flypast from a truly original angle.

“You’re going to be the weasel cam,” Kohs said, echoing Sabol’s words to him. “You don’t have to show any game plays. You just need to find the stories around the field.”

When Kohs was chosen to document DeepMind’s 2016 Go match between their AI and top player Lee Sedol, he leaned on that same risk-taking instinct. He approached the event like it was a Super Bowl, anticipating shots and unscripted moments. One of the most memorable shots in “AlphaGo” is Lee on the hotel balcony, blazer catching in the wind, smoking a cigarette. Because Kohs couldn’t access the balcony, he booked a hotel room above it. As soon as Lee left the game room, Kohs started rolling.

That ethos would define Kohs’s career, which has increasingly traipsed into the tech world. “Coin” (2022) follows Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong, while “The Thinking Game” (2024) centers on DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis. Notably, it is the inventors at the forefront — not the inventions.

“In ‘Coin,’ in ‘AlphaGo,’ in ‘Thinking Game,’ it’s humans that are interesting to me,” Kohs said. “I feel like my responsibility has been to share an honest portrayal of the human behind the technology, or that’s working on the technology, that will shape that technology.”

This humanism shapes Kohs’s directorial process. He never uses narration, instead preferring his interviewees to speak directly to the camera, meeting the viewer’s eyes.

“I just let the people whom I film let their words tell the story and let it flow so people are just invited to listen, as opposed to be told something,” Kohs said.

Through years of filming scientists at DeepMind, one of the world’s leading AI labs, Kohs developed more appreciation than fear. In Seoul, when AlphaGo lost a match, the team’s reaction wasn’t disappointment — it was excitement. To Kohs, that curiosity was deeply human.

“When you hear people speak fearfully, ‘Oh, we’re doomed,’ and all this and that, it is an opportunity for us to think about really what is it that makes us human,” Kohs said. “Right now, empathy and community are two things that I think are really superhuman bonds between people.”

Kohs has been experimenting with AI tools himself but sees them as collaborators instead of replacements.

“It’s a great creative tool in the same way that a great lens on a camera is,” Kohs said. “It allows you to see things and focus on them a little bit differently.”

For “The Thinking Game,” he used early generative AI tools to animate old photographs of Hassabis, which was a time-consuming trial-and-error process at the time. But for him, AI is just a way to support his storytelling — a way to get “unstuck.”

His approach and openness somewhat contrast with Hollywood’s anxiety. Kohs shut down the possibility of making a film addressing these concerns. His films, he says, are ultimately about human intentions.

“There are definitely concerns that need to be evaluated and explored, and I think they’re happening,” Kohs said. “The thing that interests me most with AI is the intentions of the people working on it. I know that’s a trite thing that everyone says — it’s neutral, it depends on whose hands it’s in — but it really does. And, for all technology, what’s the intent of the human behind it? Humans are what interest me the most.”

While other directors like Christopher Nolan warn of AI’s “Oppenheimer Moment,” Kohs is resistant to dramatizing the subject.

“There were some people that wished ‘The Thinking Game’ went more deeply into the dark side,” Kohs said. “And it’s acknowledged, and there are people that are going to do that, but that wasn’t the story that I was telling. We were telling the story of Demis [Hassabis] and his pursuit and his intentions behind his pursuit.”

Kohs’ perspective feels rare in an industry where AI is seen either as a replacement or a shortcut. His work suggests a future in which technology is instead a mirror, reflecting the human intentions that created it.

Kohs’ philosophy is a reminder that the heart of storytelling and documentary filmmaking hasn’t changed. Perhaps the true question we must ask in the age of AI is not whether machines can make art — but whether we still can.

—Staff writer Capri S. Wayne can be reached at capri.wayne@thecrimson.com.