At last, a horror film for haters of Chat GPT and Slack in the workplace. CognAItive, or Cogn-AI-tive, if you want to be really obvious about it, is an updated version of technophobic sci-fi thrillers like Dream House (1998), 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Simpsons segment ‘House of Whacks,’ wherein an AI-controlled house gains self-realisation and attempts to kill its residents.
What even The Simpsons couldn’t predict, however, is how all-encompassing and life threatening AI would eventually become. Taking that theme to its natural conclusion, Tommy Savas’s Cognaitive asks: ‘What if Chat GPT was actively trying to kill us?’
Piper Curda stars as developer Kaya, one of the minds behind the titular CognAItive. Ambitious CEO Ethan (Noel Fisher) has just brought the release date forward to literally tomorrow, and Kaya and her team have been charged with staying overnight to ensure that the launch goes smoothly. Having outgrown the parameters of its programming a while ago, Cog has certain ideas about what the launch should entail and is prepared – and able – to kill for the cause. It’s Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning on a much smaller scale, although there is also a guy named Ethan here.
With CognAItive, Savas and screenwriter Angie Simms have updated ’90s schlock for our modern workplace. Its office setting is sharply observed, from the omnipresent Slack screens to cans of Liquid Death and Monster energy drink. Curda’s world-weary Kaya is a beacon of normality in a colourful crew of freaks and geeks, each profoundly irritating but amusingly wired. It’s on-the-nose but effective, utilising killer drones, 3D printers and even revenge porn in its attack upon the beleaguered office workers.
Will CognAItive, like Chopping Mall and Lawnmower Man age badly, like the tech world’s own Elon Musk? Whether we make it another three or four decades is anyone’s guess (if not, it could very well be AI’s fault) but, in the here-and-now, it’s a delightfully savage takedown of AI, tech bros, and Slack in the workplace.
COGNAITIVE premiered at UK FrightFest on August 21, 2025.
