Artificial film premieres at NYFF to critical acclaim

Luca Guadagnino’s new film, ‘Artificial’, premiered at the New York Film Festival to strong critical acclaim. The biographical drama explores the rise of OpenAI and the 2023 leadership crisis involving CEO Sam Altman. Andrew Garfield stars as Altman, while Yura Borisov portrays co-founder Ilya Sutskever. Critics have described the film as a ‘provocative’ and ‘visceral’ corporate drama, with some comparing its impact to ‘The Social Network’.

The film’s production history was notably turbulent; it was originally an Amazon MGM project but was dropped during post-production, leading to speculation regarding Amazon’s ties to OpenAI. The distribution rights were subsequently acquired by Neon. The film is scheduled for a theatrical release on Christmas Day 2026, with a wider expansion in early 2027.

Following his preparation for the role, Andrew Garfield expressed a newfound wariness toward artificial intelligence, stating he felt ‘a little mistrusting of the technology’ after researching its capabilities. The film’s awards campaign is expected to be significant, with Neon positioning several cast members, including Garfield, Borisov, and Monica Barbaro, for potential Oscar consideration.