The Thinking Game (2024): Movie Review

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Recently, I watched The Thinking Game (2024), directed by Greg Kohs. It was my second film from this director after watching his AlphaGo (2017) documentary, and it was a deeply inspiring experience. As someone fascinated by artificial intelligence, this documentary felt like a front-row seat to the future of technology.

Talking about The Thinking Game: it follows Demis Hassabis and the brilliant team at Google DeepMind as they tackle one of the greatest challenges of our time: creating Artificial General Intelligence. Instead of just showing code, it focuses on the human journey, the passion, and the endless trial-and-error behind breakthroughs like AlphaGo and AlphaFold.

What makes this film feel different from typical sensationalised, doom-and-gloom tech documentaries is its honest, raw behind-the-scenes access. There are no dramatic CGI robots or over-the-top suspense tracks. Instead, the director relies on quiet observation of real researchers pacing in rooms, capturing the quiet tension of breakthroughs and the genuine frustration of failures.

The documentary questions the limits of human curiosity and how we can use intelligence to solve the world's most complex scientific puzzles. It is a niche film that might not appeal to everyone, and some might find the technical details slightly dry, and that is alright. But if you want to understand the minds shaping our digital future, I highly recommend watching it on YouTube.