Andrew Garfield plays Sam Altman in Guadagnino film at NYFF

By Splitfeed EditorialLast updated Oct 6, 2026, 09:00 UTC

Luca Guadagnino's film "Artificial" had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival on October 5 and 6, 2026, with Andrew Garfield playing OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman and Yura Borisov playing a character described as Garfield's ethical opposite. Altman confirmed publicly that portions of the film were shot outside his San Francisco home, and that he encountered Garfield on set, noting that the walk was the one element of the performance he found accurate. Deadline called Garfield's portrayal "chilling" and described the film as an OpenAI origin story that "should make you very afraid." TheWrap labeled it "terrifying" and an "essential film," while the Hollywood Reporter called it a "riveting real-world tech nightmare."

The film arrives at a moment when the leadership and ethics of OpenAI are subjects of sustained public debate, and a dramatized origin story featuring a living, named subject carries obvious stakes beyond ordinary biographical filmmaking. A complicating factor noted by voices covering the release is that Amazon dropped the film before its premiere, a decision the anti-AI camp is treating as significant context rather than a footnote. Whether the film functions primarily as cultural criticism or ends up, despite its intentions, elevating Altman's mystique is a genuinely open question among early viewers.

The anti-AI camp has embraced the film as a damning indictment, with accounts including Wajahat Ali pointing to Amazon's decision to drop it alongside reported efforts by Elon Musk to suppress Alex Gibney's separate documentary as evidence of coordinated corporate resistance to critical scrutiny of AI's most powerful figures. Joey Magidson, quoted among early reactions, described the film as a "pitch black and often savage comedy about the irresponsibility in regards to AI that might be our doom," while also noting it loses momentum before the end. The pro-AI camp has produced no published reactions yet; a story of this kind would typically draw dismissals of the film as sensationalist or unfair to figures driving beneficial technological progress. The middle ground camp is reserving judgment, with accounts like Innsmouth Looksmaxxing raising the Social Network comparison directly, suggesting that a deeply unflattering portrait of someone's character can simultaneously make that person seem compelling and consequential.

The argument about what the film ultimately means will sharpen as wider audiences see it beyond the festival circuit. A commercial release date and any response from Altman or OpenAI beyond his light comments about Garfield's walk would be the clearest next markers to watch.