Artificial Review: A Scathing Look at OpenAI [NYFF 2026]

In recent years, news about OpenAI and Sam Altman has felt impossible to ignore. Somehow, Artificial finds an angle to tell the familiar story.

Rather than covering all the ethical questions about GenAI (the movie briefly hints at GenAI’s high resource consumption) and its possibilities, Artificial takes a more targeted approach. Luca Guadagnino’s new film, which premiered at the New York Film Festival 2026, peels back the curtain on OpenAI’s origins.

It starts with computer engineer Ilya Sutskever’s PhD at the University of Toronto in 2012 and ends with Sam Altman’s reinstatement as OpenAI’s CEO in November 2023. On the surface, Artificial seems like a run-of-the-mill tech biopic, especially since the story moves linearly through the events.

But this film is the closest spiritual successor to Fincher’s critical darling, The Social Network, capturing a timely story with a dark foreshadowing of our present.

Artificial is undeniably a Luca Guadagnino film, evident from the long, lingering shots of Northern California’s natural landscape and the unique framing of San Francisco’s steep hills. Despite the generally consistent tone, some editing choices stick out as jarring departures from the established style.

At times, the story veers into territory where the commentary is too on-the-nose, particularly when discussing the potential dangers of unregulated access to AI. Artificial shines in its microscopic focus on the founding players of OpenAI: Sam Altman and Ilya Sutskever.

Impersonating figures still alive today must be difficult, especially well-known actors with recognizable faces. However, Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman is an incredibly memorable performance.

Donning blue contacts and the tech-bro uniform (puffy vests and polo shirts), Garfield all but transforms into Altman, delivering a near-perfect imitation of his nervous mannerisms and lilting tone.

His mesmerizing performance makes OpenAI’s rise to success believable. Altman becomes a cult of personality, leading his loyal employees to the promised land of commercial success all while trying to prove his earnest intentions to the skeptical Sutskever and Mira Murati.

Monica Barbaro’s performance as Mira Murati is similarly fascinating to watch. Murati’s ability to read the room, especially as the only woman in it, makes her unpredictable, even when she makes her stance ostensibly clear.

Another actor who deserves recognition is Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk. While Barinholtz doesn’t bear much resemblance to Elon Musk, despite the valiant efforts of hair, makeup, and costuming, he fully commits to the portrayal.

His performance offers brief moments of levity to the serious narrative.

Yura Borisov holds his own as Ilya Sutskever, an intelligent engineer with an unwavering belief that AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) can improve humanity.

The film positions his biggest flaw as his inability to see past the tech industry’s deceptive nature. Yet a more critical approach to Sutskever’s role in OpenAI’s rise, especially considering how Artificial positions him as a moral cornerstone, may have made the story more effective.

By the end of the film, the on-screen story concludes, but a horrible dread lingers that the story of AI isn’t over yet. Three years after the events of Artificial, AI’s true capabilities still haven’t been realized.

Perhaps one day, we will look back on Artificial and appreciate its prescient themes. Or perhaps, as the film suggests, it’s already far too late.

Artificial is out in U.S. theaters on December 25, 2026.

 

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