New documentary puts spotlight on East Tennessee and the future of A.I.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - The documentary film “Oppenheimer After Trinity” made its debut screening at Oak Ridge High School Wednesday night in a room full of students, teachers, residents and experts.

“This is a story about what Oppenheimer went through and the process of his own thoughts and how he felt about it,” Director Trent Digiulio said.

Digiulio told WVLT News the film shows viewers what happened right after the testing of the world’s first atomic bomb in July of 1945. That bomb was created in Oak Ridge where the film is taking center stage at Oak Ridge High School.

The free screening highlighted the future of artificial intelligence while inspiring young minds like senior Isabella Zolnierczuk, who’s expecting to lead innovation in the medical field.

“It can just make a ton of patterns and make predictions, but in order for A.I. to glean through data, it has to have access to a lot of private data that patients have to be willing to share,” Zolnierczuk said. “No women in my family got to have the voice that I do right now.”

Zolnierczuk, other students and experts made up a panel before the viewing to share their plans and concerns for A.I.

Now that A.I. has advanced, local scientists said it’s time to create protective boundaries.

“What we want to do then, is find the right level of governance - depending on the risks of the A.I. systems and that’s what all the policy makers are working on today in Washington,” Lynne Parker, director of the AI Tennessee Initiative, said.

The documentary is debuting the same time as Christopher Nolan’s film “Oppenheimer,” which hits theatres in Knoxville Thursday.

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