The documentary The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist opened Sundance in January and has not stopped being talked about since. Oscar-winning directors, conversations with leading AI researchers, and one question nobody can convincingly answer: are we creating a technology that can surpass us - and do we even have a plan for that moment?

The numbers are cold. Approximately 20,000 people worldwide actively develop AI. Fewer than 200 work on its safety. That is not a mathematical error - it is a conscious choice by an industry that knows the risks but underestimates them. One researcher in the documentary said colleagues do not expect their children to reach secondary school if development continues at the current pace without regulation.

On the other side stand the optimists: AI will solve climate change, defeat diseases, create abundance for all. Both camps speak with equal confidence about opposite outcomes. The documentary does not offer a verdict - it leaves both sides talking while the viewer realises that neither actually knows.

Geopolitical competition is part of the problem. The race between the US and China means neither side can slow down without losing ground. Regulation for AGI - artificial general intelligence - is minimal compared to what governs everyday products. To pass a law on a new medicine requires years of clinical trials. To release an AI system that teaches itself - no.

In the Balkans, artificial intelligence touches daily life through job automation and disinformation, but we have no regulatory conversation. Europe passed an AI Act - but implementation is lagging and the technology does not wait. The documentary asks: will we react when it is too late, or will we make an exception for once?