Wattleseed
2026 / 12 minutes
Directed by Will Chai
Two researchers decide a lethal incident could stop an artificial intelligence arms race.
TrailerThe story
Adrian and Leo believe destroying Wattleseed will leave the wider race toward artificial intelligence intact. They devise a plan to stage a lethal incident in the hope of bringing it to a halt. The film follows their reasoning and the risks they are prepared to take.
Daniel Guo plays Adrian and Titus Tan plays Leo. Mitchell Hynes provides the voice of Dr. Jimson. Over twelve minutes, the researchers’ conversation brings their fears about the technology into contact with their own decisions.
- Adrian
- Daniel Guo
- Leo
- Titus Tan
- Dr. Jimson
- Voice of Mitchell Hynes
The decision at the centre
Will Chai
I wanted Wattleseed itself to remain ambiguous. The characters project their anxieties onto it, while the audience is left to consider whether the AI ever acts. Their concerns about regulation are serious. The film follows a man whose conviction gives him permission to engineer a tragedy in the belief he is preventing one.
A room at McMaster
We filmed with the assistance of McMaster University in the Mueller History of Health and Medicine Room, within the Health Sciences Library. The production also used other locations around Hamilton, Ontario.
I wrote Wattleseed with Cain Chai and directed it with Edward Gao as assistant director. Edward, Titus Tan, Daniel Guo, and I produced the film. The team brought together people from Health Sciences, Computer Science, and iBioMed.
The apparatus came from the team’s own hobbies. Raw aluminum prisms, fishing equipment, and a control board became parts of the technology on screen. Those physical objects gave the performers an apparatus to work with in the library.
- Filming locations
- Hamilton
- Completed film
- 12 minutes
- Release
- 21 February 2026
Building Wattleseed
The apparatus
The control board, fishing equipment, and aluminum prisms were gathered from the production team. The original press kit records these materials as the source of the analog technology in the film.
The image and sound
Wattleseed was shot on a Sony a7 IV and finished in 4K. I edited the film and mixed the sound in Final Cut Pro 11. The library interiors and the exterior locations were filmed around McMaster University and Hamilton.
The second film
Wattleseed is my second directorial work, following Murder of Minus. Both films use artificial intelligence to examine human choices. Here, the focus rests on the researchers’ conviction and the justification for their plan.
- Runtime
- 12 minutes
- Released
- 21 February 2026
- Format
- 4K
- Production
- Hamilton, Ontario
- Camera
- Sony a7 IV
- Edit and sound mix
- Final Cut Pro 11
