Amazon Shelves Sam Altman Biopic ‘Artificial’ Following Massive OpenAI Investment

Amazon has abruptly cancelled the release of “Artificial,” its highly anticipated film centered on Sam Altman’s brief 2023 removal as CEO of OpenAI. The studio has pulled the nearly completed project from its distribution schedule and is now seeking a new home for the film among rival studios.

The decision was confirmed to Puck late Thursday by Mike Hopkins, the executive overseeing Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. Hopkins informed director Luca Guadagnino (“Challengers,” “Call Me By Your Name”) and the production team that Amazon would no longer move forward with the planned release.

“We have the utmost respect and admiration for Luca Guadagnino as an award-winning filmmaker—not to mention a longstanding relationship that we hope to continue,” an Amazon spokesperson stated. “We believe that ‘Artificial’ will be better served if it were released by a different studio and are working closely with the filmmaking team to find the film a new home.”

Written by Simon Rich, the film stars Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman and Yura Borisov as OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever. Often compared to the drama “The Social Network,” the film reportedly portrays Altman in a negative light. According to Puck, early scripts depicted Altman as a manipulative and power-hungry figure, including a scene where computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton describes him as “one of the most manipulative people on the planet.”

Sources familiar with the situation suggest that the film’s tone became significantly darker than originally pitched, leading Hopkins to halt the release after viewing a cut of the movie. This pivot occurs several months after Amazon invested $50 billion into OpenAI. The timing is notable as Altman has been developing close ties with the Trump administration—connections that Amazon and founder Jeff Bezos have also worked to cultivate.

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) is currently screening the film for potential new distributors.

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