A Conversation Worth Having: Coffee with Claude at The Ross

At The Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, we are dedicated to exploring independent stories through film. Since its founding, The Ross has embraced cinema not simply as entertainment, but as a means of encouraging dialogue, challenging assumptions, and engaging with the ideas shaping our world.

Artificial intelligence is unquestionably one of the most consequential and disruptive technologies of our time, particularly for artists, filmmakers, and storytellers. Its rapid development raises profound questions about creativity, authorship, intellectual property, artistic ownership, and the relationship between human expression and emerging technologies. These concerns are legitimate, deeply felt, and deserving of serious consideration.

We recognize that many artists have experienced, or are concerned about, the use of their creative work to develop AI technologies without their knowledge, consent, or compensation. These are not abstract concerns. They touch the livelihoods, identities, and futures of people who make their living through creative expression.

But we also believe that engaging with difficult and sometimes uncomfortable ideas is precisely what an institution like The Ross should be doing.

Screening a film is not an endorsement of its subject, its perspective, or the technology it explores. It is an invitation to examine those ideas critically. We do not have to embrace Claude, ChatGPT, or any particular AI platform to recognize that these technologies are already reshaping our creative and professional lives. Indeed, the more consequential their impact, the more important it becomes to engage with them thoughtfully and openly.

Coffee with Claude is a minimalist, dialogue-driven film featuring a philosophical conversation between a human filmmaker and the AI system Claude. Through this exchange, the film explores questions of consciousness, existence, creativity, and the increasingly complicated boundaries between human and artificial thought.

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln places a high value on freedom of expression and the open exchange of ideas. The Ross shares that commitment. Our role is not to prescribe what audiences should think, but to create opportunities for inquiry, disagreement, discovery, and meaningful conversation.

We understand that a screening of this film may provoke strong reactions. We welcome thoughtful criticism and differing perspectives, including those that fundamentally challenge the development and use of artificial intelligence. Those perspectives are essential to the conversation, not obstacles to it.

The Ross cannot resolve the enormous questions surrounding AI, but we can provide a space in which our community begins to explore them together. And we believe that is both a responsibility and a privilege.

Laurie Richards
Programming Director, Ross Media Arts Center
October 27, 2026