Artificial Reviews: Andrew Garfield's Sam Altman Film Draws Praise at New York Festival

Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial has received largely positive early reactions following its world premiere at the New York Film Festival on October 5. The film, centred on the rise of artificial intelligence and the people and power struggles behind its development, stars Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman and Yura Borisov as OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever. Critics have described the drama as provocative, unsettling and highly relevant to the current debate around AI.

Garfield’s performance as Altman has emerged as one of the strongest aspects of the early reviews. Matt Neglia of Next Best Picture described the film as entertaining as well as terrifying and praised Garfield for what he called one of the actor’s most unsettling and transformative performances. Other critics highlighted Garfield’s ability to portray Altman’s charm while also reflecting the darker and more complicated aspects of the character.

The film has also been praised for examining themes of power, control, ambition and greed within the technology industry. Eric Kohn of IndieWire described it as a dark comedy, while critic Jairo Jimnez called it a corporate drama with a satirical edge and singled out Garfield’s performance. The early response suggests that Guadagnino has approached the subject not simply as a technology story but as a drama about the personalities and conflicts surrounding the development of AI.

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Artificial has drawn particular attention for its similarities to The Social Network, which explored the creation of Facebook and the personalities behind its rise. Variety critic Owen Gleiberman described Guadagnino’s film as a playful docudrama and called it the real sequel to The Social Network. He praised the film for making artificial intelligence feel immediate and consequential while describing its overall effect as both inspiring and deeply unsettling.

The response has not been completely unanimous. While the film’s Rotten Tomatoes score stood at 92 per cent based on early reviews, Tim Grierson of Screen International criticised the screenplay for failing to provide deeper insight into the people who became wealthy through the development of AI. Artificial follows events surrounding Altman’s removal as OpenAI CEO in 2023 and his return to the company days later, while also exploring the earlier development of AI and the people involved in it.

The film has itself gone through changes before reaching audiences. Amazon MGM Studios initially backed the project but dropped it in June, saying it would be better served by another studio, after which Neon acquired it for worldwide distribution. Artificial also features Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk, Monica Barbaro as Mira Murati and Mark Rylance as Geoffrey Hinton. The film is scheduled for a US theatrical release on December 25.

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