Sam Altman’s OpenAI drama 'Artifical' sets release date
Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Artificial’ brings the dramatic story behind OpenAI to the big screen. Andrew Garfield leads the cast as OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman in the upcoming drama. Neon announced the film's release in theaters on December 25, in a dramatic trailer. Before its theatrical run, ‘Artificial’ will have its world premiere at the 2026 New York Film Festival on October 5.
The film looks at the people and events that shaped OpenAI. The film focuses on the five-day OpenAI leadership crisis in 2023, when Altman was fired and later reinstated as CEO. Neon will distribute the film after Amazon MGM dropped the project.
The film will compete for attention during a busy awards-season period after its festival debut. ‘Artificial’ begins with Ilya Sutskever’s early work in artificial neural networks. Sutskever studied under computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton at the University of Toronto in 2003. A decade later, he crossed paths with a young Sam Altman while working at Google. The story then moves toward OpenAI and the power struggles that shaped the company.
Garfield has said he had never met Altman before taking on the role. He researched the character through the script, interviews, and court transcripts to understand the events surrounding OpenAI. Yura Borisov plays Ilya Sutskever, the computer scientist who became one of the key figures in Altman’s removal. Mark Rylance plays Geoffrey Hinton, who taught Sutskever during his early academic career.
Monica Barbaro plays Mira Murati, while Ike Barinholtz portrays Elon Musk. Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, and Chris O’Dowd round out the main supporting cast. Jason Schwartzman, Zosia Mamet, Cooper Koch, and Billie Lourd are among the other actors attached to the film. Luca Guadagnino directed ‘Artificial’ from a screenplay by Simon Rich.
Rich is known for his work on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ ‘Man Seeking Woman,’ and ‘Miracle Workers.’ Guadagnino has returned to the New York Film Festival several times during his career. His previous films shown there include ‘Call Me by Your Name,’ ‘Bones and All,’ ‘Queer,’ and ‘After the Hunt.’
David Heyman, Jeffrey Clifford, Jennifer Fox, and Guadagnino are among the producers. Simon Rich also serves as a producer. Damon Albarn created the film’s original score and songs. Amazon announced a $50 billion partnership and investment involving OpenAI. The project then went through the market as other studios considered the film. Netflix, A24 and Focus Features passed on the project before Neon signed on to distribute it in June 2026.
