Will humans soon be entirely “out of the loop” for certain U.S. military actions in remote parts of the world? “Battles Beyond the Horizon,” a documentary by two journalism faculty members, poses this question and explores technology, AI and the future of war.
Reynolds School of Journalism Associate Dean and Professor Kari Barber directed the film alongside producer, cinematographer and journalism senior lecturer Nico Colombant.
“Battles Beyond the Horizon” is set mostly in the Nevada desert at Creech Air Force Base, about 45 miles outside of Las Vegas. The base is used for training and operation of daily overseas operations of remotely piloted drone aircraft systems with missions across the globe.
Through interviews with military personnel, ethicists and protesters, the film looks at how technology is further removing humans from modern war. “You can make the argument that this has been the case since the bow and arrow. People continue to get further and further from the impact of violence and their actions in combat,” said Barber. “The film is really tackling how artificial intelligence is playing a bigger role in these decisions and how some argue that we’re on the brink of no human involvement at all.”
Barber and Colombant filmed over the course of eight years outside of Creech Air Force Base, as well several locations across California, Ohio and Germany. “I think Nevada has a long and storied history with military experimentation because of its geography and the lack of people in certain rural areas. It’s a place the military has always been drawn to as a place where they could experiment, try new things, learn new things, and this is a part of why [Creech] became the center for that,” said Barber.
As Barber and Colombant gathered more footage and interviews over the years, the film’s story had to adapt as technology advanced and the world changed. “We filmed over the course of three different presidencies, for example. Just trying to think about how to put this all into one film when everything is constantly changing at warp speed in terms of technology and how it's used—it was a huge challenge,” explained Barber.
A number of students from the Reynolds School of Journalism were a part of the filmmaking process including filming, editing, writing and research.
“Battles Beyond the Horizon” has screened internationally at film festivals in Germany, France, Toronto and Estonia, as well as festivals in the United States including the A.I. Film Festival in Park City, Utah where it won the Audience Choice award.
With the film now available to , Colombant hopes more people will discover the film and learn about the ethical questions it explores. “We make films because there's a message there and we want people to think about it, and Amazon gives it that reach. That's why we made the film,” said Colombant.
