Luca Guadagnino warns AI's societal impact while Amazon pulls his film 'Artificial

Italian director Luca Guadagnino appeared on La 7’s Otto e Mezzo with host Lilli Gruber and said he could not comment further on Amazon MGM’s decision to drop his AI‑themed film Artificial, noting “Unfortunately, I can’t say much because we are right in the middle of this situation.”

He described artificial intelligence as a flawed, energy‑ and water‑intensive gadget that currently relies on scraped data, while acknowledging hopes for future artificial general intelligence. Guadagnino added that AI tools are “changing the identity of the United States and the entire world,” citing the stark contrast of high‑tech self‑driving cars passing people affected by homelessness and fentanyl in San Francisco, the city where part of the movie was shot.

The film, starring Andrew Garfield as OpenAI founder Sam Altman, was originally linked to a multimillion‑dollar partnership between Amazon and OpenAI, including a reported $50 billion investment, before Amazon withdrew and other distributors passed on the project.