Machines with Brains began as a 13-part multi-media series with six videos tracing the stories of people navigating a world where machines are intelligent. We created a second season to continue to explore the ways capabilities once thought unique to humans are now powering technologies that could extend and deepen our lives—or supplant our livelihoods. In both seasons, we experimented with footage and animation to create a unique look and feel that best suited our subject matter.

Season one began with a portrait of Eugenia Kyuda, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who set out on a quest to reconstruct her best friend after he was killed, but wound up creating a bot that acts as a digital replica of us: