| Google and the World Brain | |
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| Directed by | Ben Lewis |
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| Cinematography | Frank-Peter Lehmann |
| Edited by | Simon Barker |
| Music by | Lucas Ariel Vallejos |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
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Google and the World Brain is a 2013 documentary movie about theGoogle Books Library Project directed byBen Lewis, produced byBBC, Polar Star Films, andArte. The main focus of the plot is on the copyright controversy caused by the project that resulted in the Google Book Search Settlement Agreement fromAuthors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc. in 2013.
The film features interviews with many figures concerned, includingCreative Commons founderLawrence Lessig, then-senior Vice President of GoogleAmit Singhal, andInternet Archive founderBrewster Kahle.[1] The use of World Brain in the title is taken from theH. G. Wells' collection of essays calledWorld Brain.[2]
The film premiered at the2013 Sundance Film Festival.[3]
In a positive review inThe Hollywood Reporter stated that the documentary offered "convincing reasons to pay more attention to Google's utopian schemes." And the film raised a bigger question aboutartificial intelligence, "the more putting centuries' worth of books online becomes a project to create a near-omniscient artificial being," and if such a thing became a possibility could a single company or government be trusted to hold the reins.[4]
