James Rodman Barrat (born 1960) is an American documentary filmmaker, speaker, and author of the nonfiction book Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era.
Career Barrat’s career began as a writer. He had two stage plays produced while in his 20s. His first broadcast job was documentary scriptwriting for National Geographic Television.Winslow, Theresa. “Bookworm: Computers take over in new book on artificial intelligence.” Capital Gazette. Feb. 23, 2014.
He now writes, directs, and produces documentary film."The Lost Gospel of Judas Profiles." National Geographic. Accessed May 22, 2015. Broadcasters have included the National Geographic Channel, PBS NOVA, the BBC, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, Animal Planet, the Travel Channel, and The Learning Channel.Socrates "Singularity 1 on 1: James Barrat on Our Final Invention" Singularlity. Oct. 1, 2013"James Barrat" IMDb. Accessed May 22, 2015 Barrat has created dozens of documentaries and worked in over 70 countries.Barrat, James "Risking It All for Science" Nova. Feb. 1, 2010.
Among his films, Barrat wrote, produced, and directed the 2014 National Geographic film ‘’Rise of the Black Pharaohs’’."Archeologists Reveal The True Story of the Legendary Nubian Kings In 'Rise of the Black Pharaohs'" PBS Distribution. Oct. 10, 2014. Barrat also is the producer of the 2015 documentary Rise: The Promise of My Brother's Keeper airing in June 2015 on the Discovery Channel and OWN.Obenson, Tambay A. "'Rise: The Promise of My Brother's Keeper' to Simulcast on Discovery Channel & OWN June 21. Indiewire. May 21, 2015.
In 2010, Barrat was the producer and director for the PBS NOVA documentary "Extreme Cave Diving." The filmmaker cowrote, directed, and produced the documentary special The Gospel of Judas, which aired in 2006 with high ratings for the National Geographic Channel.
Barrat cowrote and produced the 2008 National Geographic Television documentary special Herod's Lost Tomb He also directed and produced the National Geographic documentaries Lost Treasures of Afghanistan and Secrets of Jerusalem's Holiest Sites. He is interviewed in the 2018 documentary on artificial intelligence Do You Trust This Computer?
St. Martin's Press released Barrat's book The Intelligence Explosion: When AI Beats Humans at Everything on September 2, 2025.
Book reception Barrat began writing Our Final Invention in 2010. It was published in 2013.
In 2014, Time magazine identified Barrat as one of the "5 Very Smart People Who Think Artificial Intelligence Could Bring the Apocalypse".Luckerson, Victor. "5 Very Smart People Who Think Artificial Intelligence Could Bring the Apocalypse”. Time. Dec. 2, 2014. Barrat's book was named one of eight "Definitive Tech Books of 2013" by The Huffington Post. He has been interviewed about artificial intelligence by CNN News and the BBC World Service Business Daily."Hawking: A.I. could be end of human race" CNN News. Dec. 2, 2014."Should We Be Frightened of Intelligent Computers?" BBC World Service, Business Daily. Feb. 12, 2014.
Personal life Barrat is married and has two children. He is a 1983 graduate of Davidson College with a B.A. in philosophy.
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