4.5 billion years. One film. The new tools of cinema.
Evolution of Us traces the full arc of life — from the first cells to the species now building AI — built shot by shot with generative AI by director Harrison Smith.
Built with the generative tools of 2026.
I made Evolution of Us because I wanted to see it.
The story of life — the actual story, four billion years of it — is the most beautiful thing I know about. From the first spark of self-organization in some warm ocean, through the unimaginable patience of single-celled life, to the explosions of complexity that gave us trilobites and dinosaurs and birds and us — it is, to me, the closest thing to a sacred text. And we walk around mostly forgetting it.
— Harrison Smith, Director
This film was built primarily using generative AI tools released in 2025–2026, used on the same publicly available terms offered to any consumer. No human likenesses were generated without consent, and no living named person appears in the film.
Full provenance and ethics statement in the press kit →
One email. Later this year.
I'll email you once when the full documentary releases. No spam, no list-trading.
The first long-form cinematic-quality paleontology documentary built primarily with generative AI.