Luca Guadagnino’s “Artificial,” a Satire on Sam Altman and OpenAI, Premieres at NY Film Festival

Director Luca Guadagnino's new film, “Artificial,” a campy satire about the story of Sam Altman and the creation of OpenAI, premiered at the New York Film Festival. Andrew Garfield stars as the famed CEO. The film has sparked conversation not just for its content, but also because Amazon MGM Studios pulled out of distributing it in June, a decision that, according to The Guardian, may be linked to Jeff Bezos’s $50 billion investment in OpenAI.

“Artificial” sharply addresses the narrative around Altman, portraying him as a complex figure at a time when artificial intelligence generates both excitement and fear. The film's premiere adds to a growing list of productions exploring the lives of prominent tech figures, reflecting public interest in understanding the impact of these personalities and their creations.

The Genesis of a Visionary Company

The film takes us back to 2003, when a young math prodigy, Ilya Sutskever (played by Yura Borisov), seeks a job with Professor Geoff Hinton (Mark Rylance), known as the “godfather of AI.” Sutskever, with palpable ambition, shows impatience with what he sees as Hinton’s conservative goals for the technology. Nine years later, Sutskever and Hinton's technology can already differentiate between cats and dogs, a significant breakthrough.

It is at this point that Elon Musk (Ike Barinholtz) introduces Sutskever to Sam Altman (Andrew Garfield), who had just sold his Loopt app, a kind of proto-“Find My Friends,” for $40 million. According to The Guardian, the film portrays these characters as “total dweebs” who, between puerile jokes and shots, begin to attract attention. One prospective investor even speculates that AI could soon reverse climate change and cure cancer, while Sutskever, with gleaming eyes, predicts that “all pain, all loneliness will cease. We will be free.”

A Critical Portrait of Sam Altman

Andrew Garfield delivers a portrayal of Altman that The Guardian describes as “brilliantly slimy.” The film traces Altman’s evolution from a “demon twink” to a “narcissistic grifter with a victim complex.” The dramatic tension of the film lies in the duality between Sutskever, seen as a delusional optimist, and Altman’s unbridled ambition.

As OpenAI’s self-learning technology advances, outsmarting humans in video games and transforming into something much larger, frictions arise in the partnership. The film culminates with Altman’s firing as OpenAI CEO and his subsequent rehiring five days later, an event that highlights the complexities of his leadership and the ethical concerns surrounding AI products. In one scene, Altman pouts: “They’re being very mean to me,” after the board raises “many legitimate concerns” about the ethics of his product, and in another, when questioned by his associate Mira Murati (Monica Barbaro) about safety, Altman snaps: “I didn’t invent teen suicide, Mira.”

The Satire and Its Limits

“Artificial” is Guadagnino’s most overtly comedic film to date, with a script by New Yorker essayist and former Saturday Night Live writer Simon Rich. However, the humor can be “frustratingly broad,” according to The Guardian. For example, Ike Barinholtz’s portrayal of Elon Musk feels more like Mike Myers impersonating Musk on SNL than the Tesla founder himself. Garfield’s depiction of Altman has also been criticized for being more effete than necessary, despite there being many other reasons to satirize the “tech oligarch.”

Despite these points, the script also has “satisfyingly savage” moments. The film uses visual metaphors that are sometimes too obvious, such as a random shot of an unhoused person wearing VR goggles or a car accelerating over the Golden Gate Bridge in a simulator-like sequence, symbolizing a “reckless leap into the unknown.” The soundtrack, by Blur frontman Damon Albarn, includes an original composition that The Guardian calls “too on-the-nose” with lyrics like “In a corrupt world, I’ll sing the saddest song.”

Why it matters

“Artificial” arrives at a time of intense debate about the future of artificial intelligence and the role of its creators. As OpenAI continues to introduce new developments, such as its 'Dots' agents (you can read more in this article), society grapples with ethical boundaries and the potential consequences of this technology. As Altman says in a monologue in the film: “We opened Pandora’s box. Countries will fall, industries will collapse, and we get to be the ones to usher people into this new world.” This grim prophecy of dystopia, though somewhat diluted by the film's varied tone, resonates with the growing unease many feel. The film is set to be released in the US on December 25, in Australia on January 21, and in the UK on January 27.