Ghost in the Machine exposes the buried history of artificial intelligence, not as a neutral system of algorithms, but as a technology shaped by racism, misogyny, and entrenched structures of power. Rejecting the notion of AI as inevitable or objective, the documentary traces how myths of progress and efficiency have obscured deeper political and cultural agendas, revealing the ideological foundations beneath the systems now rapidly reshaping modern society.
Directed by Valerie Veatch, Lang ‘07, this documentary blends historical excavation with contemporary analysis to confront essential questions: who built these systems, whose values they encode, and who they benefit. It is Veatch’s third Sundance-premiering film. All three explore how emerging technologies transform identity, power, and culture.
This film is not about machines. It is about power. Ghost in the Machine interrogates who builds AI, who benefits from it, and who bears the cost.Â
Join us for a screening of Ghost in the Machine, followed by a discussion of the film in which Veatch will be in conversation with McKenzie Wark, Ezekiel Dixon Román, and Jessie Daniels.Â
This event is organized by Zed Adams and hosted by the Office of University Initiatives, which works to advance the university-wide thematic areas of City Initiatives, Climate and Environmental Justice, Democracy and Culture, and Technology; and this event is in partnership with The Institute for Philosophy and The New Humanities.Â
This event will feature American Sign Language interpretation and Closed Captioning.
New School students seeking accommodations should contact the Student Disability Services office at studentdisability@newschool.edu.
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Event guests seeking additional accommodations may contact universityinitiatives@newschool.edu.
Valerie Veatch is an acclaimed independent documentary filmmaker. Veatch is a writer, director, and producer of three Sundance Film Festival premiering documentaries, Ghost in the Machine (PBS, 2026), Me @ The Zoo (HBO, 2012), and Love Child (HBO, 2014). Veatch is a graduate of the New School for Social Research with a degree in Culture and Media Studies. Her award-winning work interrogates Tech.
Jessie Daniels, PhD (she/her), is Full Professor in Sociology, Hunter College, CUNY. She is also a Faculty Associate at the Harvard Berkman Klein Center and a (Full) Professor of Sociology at Hunter College, and affiliate faculty in Africana Studies, Critical Social Psychology and Sociology at The Graduate Center-CUNY.
Ezekiel Dixon-Román is Professor of Critical Race, Media, & Educational Studies and Director of the Edmund W. Gordon Institute for Advanced Study (formerly the Institute for Urban and Minority Education). He is also co-founder of the Institute in Critical Quantitative, Computational, & Mixed Methodologies and the Critical Computation Bureau. He joined the Teachers College faculty on January 1 2023 from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice.
"What I love to write, and to teach, is ways to think critically about contemporary life, as we can perceive and understand it via its media and culture. If we can equip ourselves with concepts that create some distance from our all-too familiar media bubbles, we can find our way towards crafting better lives, singly and together."
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