Coded Bias: NZIFF Review

If you weren't worried about AI, Coded Bias will definitely unnerve you.

This festival's warning shot across the bow is a documentary warning us about how facial recognition technology is dangerous and is misshaping society.

Slickly presented, and polished, the doco zips across the globe, taking in the trials within London, where a 14 year old is pulled from the streets on a technological whim after the system mislabels him a troublemaker. Visibly shaken by the affair, the teen's reaction is disturbing and the ramifications more frightening than anything.

But a calm approach from doco-maker Shalini Kantayya manages to deliver a measured and studious approach to the technology issues from various protest groups campaigning against it, as well as US representatives as they question whether they want to go the way of the Chinese society where CCTV and facial recognition technology is prevalent.

Disappointingly not once does Kantayya go to those involved with the technology to get their point of view, or even proffer that they weren't interested in talking. And occasionally there's a feeling that the doco is repeating itself and fuelling the fear (no matter how rightly placed it is), but Coded Bias and its approach to invasive AI is likely to be the festival's rallying cry.

Mainly talking heads and footage comprise most of the clealry outlined arguments against, but a feeling there's never really a desire to get the other side leaves Coded Bias with a definite impression of disappointing documentary bias.