Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial turns OpenAI’s turbulent history into an unsettling, darkly funny drama, led by extraordinary performances from Andrew Garfield and Yura Borisov. The people developing artificial intelligence are supposed to understand it better than anyone else. But what happens when even they cannot agree on what they’re creating, how dangerous it might become or who should be trusted to control it?
One of the more fascinating aspects of Artificial is just how recently all of this happened. In November 2023, Sam Altman was fired from his position as CEO of OpenAI, only to be reinstated five days later. It was a rather extraordinary turn of events, particularly for a company playing such a significant role in the development of AI. Guadagnino uses this period to examine the tensions within OpenAI, and the disagreements between those who believed in the technology’s potential but couldn’t necessarily agree on what its future should look like.
There’s also a surprising amount of comedy here, particularly in the way these enormously influential figures behave when their authority is challenged.
Andrew Garfield is quite remarkable as Sam Altman. There’s so much attention to detail in his portrayal, particularly in the smaller physical mannerisms that could easily go unnoticed. The way he speaks, his expressions and, perhaps most impressively, his walk. It’s an extraordinary transformation, and one that makes Garfield almost disappear into the role.
But beyond the physical resemblance, what makes Garfield’s performance so effective is how difficult he makes Altman to understand.
There’s something quite peculiar about the way Garfield plays him. Altman can be incredibly charming, and it’s easy to understand why people might be persuaded by him. But that charm doesn’t necessarily make him trustworthy. Even when the company is facing considerable uncertainty, he seems remarkably confident in his own position. Garfield plays that contradiction beautifully, and the longer the film goes on, the more difficult it becomes to work out exactly what to make of him.
Opposite him is Yura Borisov as Ilya Sutskever, one of OpenAI’s co-founders and a man whose fears about the technology he’s helped develop gradually put him in conflict with Altman. There’s something particularly interesting about watching a man become frightened of the implications of a technology he has dedicated so much of his life to developing.
What makes Borisov’s portrayal so compelling is the conflict within Sutskever himself. He’s spent years helping to develop this technology and understands its potential, but he’s also becoming increasingly concerned about where it could lead. Borisov is excellent at conveying that unease, particularly as Ilya finds himself caught between his fears about AI and his loyalty to the people he’s worked alongside.
And this is where Artificial becomes much more interesting than a straightforward account of OpenAI’s internal politics.
Perhaps the most worrying aspect of the story is that the people at the centre of it cannot agree on how to proceed. They understand the technology, they’ve helped develop it, and yet they have completely different views on the risks involved. It’s difficult not to question who should have the final say in decisions that could affect millions of people, especially when even the experts themselves are divided.
Their disagreements also become increasingly personal. There’s a friendship and a level of trust between Altman and Sutskever that makes their conflict far more interesting than the corporate dispute itself. The film works best when it allows those relationships to complicate what might otherwise be a straightforward argument about AI safety.
Cooper Hoffman and Monica Barbaro are also fantastic, and Ike Barinholtz is an absolute delight as Elon Musk. Barinholtz clearly has a lot of fun with the role, and some of the film’s funniest moments come from the sheer ridiculousness of these personalities interacting with one another. It’s an excellent ensemble across the board, with even the smaller performances leaving an impression.
And the comedy is something Guadagnino gets particularly right.
Some of the exchanges are genuinely hilarious, particularly when the competing personalities begin clashing. But it’s also rather strange to find yourself laughing at people who have played such an enormous role in shaping a technology we now rely on so heavily. Their arguments can seem petty, their behaviour occasionally ridiculous, and yet the decisions they’re making are anything but insignificant.
That’s perhaps the most uncomfortable thing about Artificial. For all their intelligence and influence, these people are still driven by ambition, pride and personal disagreements. The fact that they’re developing something as powerful as AI doesn’t suddenly make them any less human.
It’s also a surprisingly different film for Guadagnino. There’s considerably less of the emotional intensity and sensuality that have become so recognisable in his work, with much of the drama instead unfolding through conversations and shifting loyalties. It’s certainly not the kind of film I’d immediately associate with him, although there’s still something recognisably Guadagnino about the attention he gives to his actors and the relationships between their characters.
My main issue with Artificial is that it takes a little too long to get going. There’s a lot of information to establish in the first half, and while much of it is necessary, the pacing does suffer as a result. Some scenes could have been considerably tighter, especially when compared with how effectively the film builds tension later on.
Thankfully, the second half is much more assured. Once the conflict within OpenAI really begins to unfold, the film becomes much harder to look away from. The relationships between the characters are tested, loyalties change and the disagreements that initially seemed manageable begin to have much more serious consequences. It’s in these later scenes that the film really finds its momentum.
What makes Artificial particularly effective is that it doesn’t need to imagine some distant, dystopian future to make its subject frightening because the events themselves are extraordinary enough. The possibility that those developing artificial intelligence might not fully understand its consequences is troubling, but the question of who ultimately gets to make those decisions is perhaps even more so.
A stronger first half might have elevated Artificial further, but Guadagnino has still delivered a thoroughly entertaining and increasingly unnerving film. Garfield and Borisov are both outstanding, and the rest of the cast is every bit as good. There’s also something particularly effective about the way Guadagnino manages to make the story funny without allowing us to forget just how worrying some of its implications are.
Artificial intelligence may be the subject of the film, but human ambition, fear and the desire for control are what make it so compelling.
