Sometimes reality writes the better screenplay. Amazon MGM Studios has dropped ‘Artificial’ — a nearly finished drama about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, directed by Luca Guadagnino (‘Call Me by Your Name’, ‘Challengers’). Andrew Garfield plays Altman. The film covers his firing and rehiring at OpenAI in November 2023.
What we know
The film already had multiple test screenings with reportedly warm audience reactions. Monica Barbaro plays former CTO Mira Murati, Yura Borisov is former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, and Ike Barinholtz plays Elon Musk. The script was written by ‘SNL’ alum Simon Rich.
Amazon’s official statement is diplomatic: ‘We believe that Artificial will be better served if it were released by a different studio.’ CAA is already shopping it to other studios.
The elephant in the room
In February 2026, Amazon struck a strategic partnership with OpenAI — including a $50 billion investment. The film portrays Altman and Musk as the least sympathetic characters. According to an insider who’s seen the film, those are the characters audiences would ‘like the least.’
Amazon had seen all early drafts of the script before Guadagnino even boarded the project. The timing of the drop — after the OpenAI partnership — is no coincidence.
Why this matters
This isn’t just about a film. It shows how deep the entanglements in the AI industry now run. Amazon is simultaneously a film studio, a cloud provider, and an OpenAI investor. When a $50 billion deal leads to shelving a nearly completed piece of art, that tells you something about the power dynamics at play.
Jeff Bezos and Sam Altman have a personal relationship — Altman attended Bezos’s wedding in Italy last year. A film that portrays Altman critically doesn’t exactly fit the narrative.
The film will likely still get released — just not by Amazon. And that only makes the story better.
Sources: Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Washington Times