‘Artificial’ Roasts AI’s Creators—and Sends a Dark Warning About Its Dangers

Artificial, the new comedy-drama about OpenAI and the artificial intelligence arms race, is a movie of weird walks.

As OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever, Russian actor Yuri Borisov clomps around, like a geeky Frankensteinian monster. As the controversial OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Andrew Garfield bounces and skips boyishly—a gait that Altman himself recently commended for its accuracy. And as Elon Musk, Ike Barinholtz puts on a loping swagger, commanding rooms of computer nerds like some sort of alpha gorilla (a semblance matched by his long, pouting faces, which call to mind those old Bored Ape NFTs).

During the movie’s post-premiere Q&A earlier this week at the New York Film Festival, Barinholtz wryly described his character as “a person who walks normally.” Such are the awkward saunters of the march of history in the making.

Artificial, directed by Luca Guadagnino, waltzed into NYFF with some controversy clinging to it. The film was originally set to be released by AmazonMGM, which conspicuously dropped it this summer after Amazon struck a $50 billion deal with OpenAI. (Indie house Neon swooped in to pick it up.) NYFF artistic director Dennis Lim referenced “the circumstances” around the film in his onstage introduction.

That OpenAI may have brooked issues with Artificial makes sense. The film is almost completely unflattering, depicting Altman and other OpenAI stakeholders—as well as all the major drivers of the AI boom—as vain, reckless, and insufferably boring. Where 2010’s The Social Network succeeded in making Silicon Valley computer savants look like robust titans of industry and architects of the future, Artificial works to opposing ends. It depicts its tech titans as self-regarding dweebs.

It was a stance embraced by Barinholtz, who offered the premiere-night audience his own half-hearted, sarcastic reassurance: “The future is bright! We’re all gonna be fine!” Cue a round of very nervous laughter.